Things Are Not What They Seem
by buffyfaith19
Summary: This is a femslash story.  It's about all the girls in PLL.  I used the events of the first few episodes as a starting point, but after that the story goes off on its own.  Emily is a big part of the story, but who she ends up with is a work in progress.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:Things Are Not What They Seem.**

**Show:Pretty Little Liars.**

**Pairing:Aria/Hannah, Emily/? and many others.**

**Rating. K**

**Summary: This is a femslash story. It's about all the girls in PLL. I used the events of the first few episodes as a starting point, but after that the story goes off on its own. Emily is also a big part of the story, but as of yet I haven't decided on who she will end up with, but that's all part of the process. Hopefully you will enjoy how it all turns out.**

**Disclaimer:I don't own anything. The characters belong to Sara Shepard and ABC Family.**

**Rosewood Mall**.

Hannah waited outside the mall entrance, one eye on her cell phone and the other on her watch, wondering what was taking Aria so long. She cringed when she got another message from A, this time it wasn't a warning about eating too much, "It seems to be catching on now, first Emily and Maya and now you and Aria. If only you would've been able to get Aria to join us last summer, life would've been so much better. I hope you don't mind sharing her with your teacher, because that's who she really loves. You're just a distraction, like you always are, never the prize."

Aria walked up to Hannah and gave her a hug, but pulled back when she felt Hannah stiffen up, "What's wrong?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hannah asked angrily, looking down at the short, but cute brunette, "What's up with you and Mr. Fitz."

Silence and a massively guilty look answered the question before Aria could even speak. As Hannah stormed off she chased after the angry blonde, finally catching up to her before she could put her keys into her car door, "Would you wait. Let me explain."

"I don't want to hear it. We swore we would never leave each other for a guy and you're screwing around with the teacher?" Hannah said in a huff, "I have nothing more to say to you."

Aria grabbed the keys from Hannah's hand and slid them down her top, "We aren't going anywhere until I explain." She walked in front of Hannah's fancy sports car, hopped up on the hood and looked over at her girlfriend, "Okay, I know this looks bad, but I was going to tell you about it today."

"That is the worst lie I've ever heard." Hannah said with an annoyed laugh, "Just what did you do with him?"

"I met him before classes started and sure he was kind of cute and I knew he was older, but he seemed interested in me. Not like the boys in school, he seemed real. He made feel good about myself and I don't know how it happened, but I ended up kissing him in the bathroom okay." Aria confessed, "I know I should've told you as soon it happened, but all happened so fast."

Hannah let out a sigh, eased up on her anger and walked up to Aria, "Oh well in that case, it's okay. NOT!" she fumbled with her keys trying to get her car door open, but she couldn't get her hands to stop shaking long enough to put the key in the door. As her anger grew she stomped her feet and spun around towards the short brunette, "I can't believe this. I know we agreed that what we were doing was just for fun, but I don't think I can do that anymore. I don't know why, but I care about you way too much and seeing how you are more interested some old guy just made me see how I stupid I was to think you felt the same way. Of course you are just doing this for the sex. You've always wondered what Emily and Alison did together and I was just the easiest way to find out."

"That's not true at all." Aria denied vigorously, "I'm sorry, I didn't plan on this happening. It's over now. He's gone."

"I see, so that means you're stuck with me again huh? Think again. We're done." Hannah yelled, not sure whether to laugh or cry, "We might be stuck together because of Alison, but we are no longer friends."

"Hannah." Aria yelled as she watched Hannah get into her car and slam the door behind her. She pounded on the driver's side window trying to get her attention, but to no avail as she tore out of the busy mall in a flash.

** Emily Fields' Home**.

Emily sat at her computer, flipping through her swimming schedule, hoping none of it interfered with her plans with Maya. She hadn't thought of anything but her enticing new neighbor since she first laid eyes on her. When her phone began to ring, she rolled back in her chair, grabbed it from her bed and smiled as Maya's named popped up, "Hi there."

"Hi. I was hoping we could talk a bit. I'm at my place if you can make it."

"Sure. I'll be right over." Emily said with an excited smile. She thought about grabbing a light jacket, but looked down at her short skirt and top and decided she looked better without it. She rushed downstairs and out of the house without so much as a word to her mother. She stopped to catch her breath before she rang Maya's doorbell.

Maya answered wearing a bikini top and jean shorts, smiling as she waved Emily inside. After she closed the door, she led the way upstairs, knowing Emily would be watching every step she took and hoping she enjoyed the view.

Once upstairs, Maya led the way to her bedroom and again waved Emily inside. She waited for Emily to sit down on her bed and happily joined her, "I feel kind of silly asking you here now, because what I wanted to talk about sounded a lot easier in my head." Maya walked over to her window, took a quick look out at the clear sunny sky and then turned back to Emily, "I like you and last night was really amazing, I don't even remember the movie at all, but I sure do remember how much fun it was kissing you all night. That's why this is so hard. I left out a bit of information when I first met you because I didn't think it was important at the time, but now that things have moved so fast for us in the last few days I think it's time to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"I don't want you to hate me, but I have a girlfriend." Maya said softly, almost afraid to say the words. She watched in horror as Emily stared at her with disbelief and disgust, finally moving towards her again to plead her case, "I know I should've said something when we met, but I had no idea I would feel this away about you."

"You aren't joking are you?" Emily asked, not sure whether to laugh or cry, "As bad a joke as this would be, the truth is so much worse. What kind of person does that? Who is she? Where is she?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds. Honestly." Maya explained swiftly, not enjoying making Emily unhappy, "We promised to keep in touch when I moved and we were going to have a long distance relationship, but you know those don't work. I'm never going back home and I think she knows it, but we didn't want to say goodbye, so this is what we did. I haven't talked to her in a week, because she's probably moved on just like I have." Maya let out a sigh as Emily's cold exterior hadn't cracked even a little, "Okay, I know you're mad, but what I feel for you right now is real. Please don't let this technicality ruin what we have. That's all it is. I'm not with her. We haven't been together for a month now and we've talked like twice on the phone, both times in the first few days after I left. We've talked only through email lately and like I said, it's been a week now, so I'm sure she's moved on."

"You don't know that. She could be planning a trip to come see you for all you know. If you don't end this then you'll never know. I'm not spending another minute with you until you take care of this." Emily got up from the bed and walked towards the bedroom door, stopping to glare at Maya one last time, "Even then I don't know if I can trust you."

"Emily, don't say that." Maya followed Emily out the door, stopping her at the top of the stairs, "I'm not giving up on us. I will take care of this and then we can continue on from where we left off last night. Don't forget about how good last night was. Let me show you that you are the only one I want to be with. Please?"

Emily held in her smile as she stared at Maya's cute little plea, "I'm not promising anything, but I look forward to hearing from you once you've taken care of this."

"That's all I ask." Maya said with a relieved smile.

After an awkward silence, Emily looked down at her watch, "Well, I have to go anyway. I'm meeting my friends later on."

"You sure are close with those girls." Maya said, sounding more jealous than she intended. She quickly put on a smile and changed her tune, "I guess you've been through a lot together, so I'm glad you have them to talk to about all this."

"Hopefully in time I'll be able to talk to you about all these things to." Emily said with a slight smile as she walked out the front door.

**Spencer's bedroom**.

Spencer flipped through her photo album, smiling and tearing up at the countless pictures of Alison and the others together, having a blast, looking so happy and normal, never would anyone guess the secrets her four friends were keeping.

Melissa knocked on the door and stepped into the bedroom, looking surprisingly somber for a change, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened to Alison. I know you two were very close. You did a great job at the memorial."

"What's with the pretend caring?" Spencer said, not holding back her sarcasm or dislike for her older sister.

"I'm trying to be nice here." Melissa said, doing her best to smile as she moved towards her sister, "You just got home from a funeral, believe it or not I still love you and hate that you have to go through this."

"Okay, I'm sorry, but you don't have to be nice. I'm fine. I've got my friends to help get me through this." Spencer said, "You don't have to strain yourself trying to play the caring sister anymore."

"I guess I can't be surprised that you're so angry, but there are times when you have to let your guard down and let people help you, even those you might not like all the time." Melissa walked over and stood beside her sister, "I saw the way you all reacted when Jenna got up to speak, is there something going on between you guys?"

"No. Everything's fine." Spencer said, trying her best to smile and act calm.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this, but I've spent a lot of time with Jenna over the last year and she's shared some very interesting things about you and your friends, especially you and Alison."

Spencer got up from her computer chair and walked past her sister, her mind racing in a million different directions, "I don't know what you're talking about. We didn't spend much time with Jenna at all so I doubt she knows anything about us."

"Well, from what she told me, she did spend time with Alison, apparently Alison liked to spend time with as many different girls as she could." Melissa followed Spencer over to the window and leaned over her shoulder, "I know it's none of my business, but were you one of Alison's conquests?"

Spinning around in a flash, Spencer shook her head, "Why are you asking this? I thought you were here to pretend to be supportive? I guess I knew that was a lie all along."

"I'm not lying, but don't you see how this looks? I might be friends with Jenna, but you are my sister and I care about you way more than I might show." Melissa put her hands on Spencer's shoulders and looked her right in the eye, "Jenna is convinced that you killed Alison. Please tell me she's wrong."

"Of course she's wrong. Why would you have to ask me?" Spencer snapped, once again pulling away from her sister.

"You have no idea what Jenna knows about you and your friends." Melissa said as she watched Spencer pace back and forth in front of her, "It seems Alison confided in her about every little thing you did together. I mean everything. Maybe you didn't know Alison as well as you thought."

"That's ridiculous. Alison wouldn't do that." Spencer said, wanting so much to believe this was all a bad dream, "Sure she could be a bitch at times, well most of the time really, but she never did anything to hurt or betray us."

"Well, Jenna said that she spent a lot of time with Alison in the hospital after the accident and I guess Alison was consumed with guilt and Jenna ended up getting her to spill the beans about everything."

"I can't believe this. It can't be true."

"You need to stop living in denial and get a grip on what this means." Melissa led Spencer over to her bed at sat her down and stood in front of her, "After watching your reaction to all this, I have to believe that everything Jenna told me about you and your friends is true. I don't think you're evil or anything like that, but you let Alison talk you into a lot of things that you probably wouldn't have done on your own."

"What things would they be?"

"How about being responsible for Jenna's blindness?" Melissa said firmly, crossing her arms across her chest in an attempt to look serious.

Spencer hung her head, closed her eyes and wondered what else could go wrong, "Oh god, I can't believe she told Jenna and I really can't believe Jenna told you. Why would she do that? I'm starting to believe she's the one responsible…"

"Responsible for what? You think she killed Alison?"

"I'm not saying a thing. Since you are such close friends with her you'd probably run and tell her everything." Spencer got up from her bed and pulled Melissa by the arm towards her bedroom door, "Here's what I want you to do, get the hell out of my room."

"I'm just trying to help. If you or one of your friends is in trouble I can help. Don't push me away." Melissa said as Spencer guided her rather aggressively out of her room, "My loyalty is to you not Jenna, one day you're going to realize that no matter how much we fight we're still family and I will always try and protect you."

Spencer slammed the door and rushed back over to her computer. She pulled up the file labeled "Alison" and began sifting through the countless pictures until she came across the one she was looking for. She double clicked the picture and sat back in her chair, shaking her head at what she'd never noticed before. She got up, grabbed her cell phone and quickly placed another SOS call to Aria, Hanna and Emily, before falling back in her bed wondering if her life was about to get even more complicated.

**End of Chapter 1**.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**.

**Rosewood Park**.

Aria, Hannah, Emily and Spencer walked through the beautiful, but quiet park, moving far past the actual park until they were sure they'd be alone. Aria stopped at the edge of a small river and looked up at her three best friends, "Is this ever going to end?"

"Once we find out who is sending those messages it has to end, doesn't it?" Emily asked, looking at each of her friends for some reassurance.

"No, it doesn't end there." Spencer said, opening up her purse and pulling out a picture, "I just found out some things about Alison that I didn't know about before and then I remembered this picture here and at the time I didn't think anything of it, but look at it." Spencer held the picture up for her friends to check out, "This is dated at the end of 08' and there's Jenna smiling and looking all friendly with Alison. The picture isn't even about them. It's supposed to be about the team from our field hockey party in November, but it proves that Jenna knew Alison and they sure look close to me."

After the girls had taken a long look at the picture, they looked at each other in disbelief. Hannah let out a sigh and kicked a rock into the river, "What does it mean though? I thought we spent all our time with Alison, how could she have any time to spend with Jenna? I don't get it."

"Alison loved to be the center of attention and I don't think she could get enough from us. Believe it or not we did do things away from Alison, so yes, I think she had plenty of time to hang out with other people." Spencer said, taking the picture back from Aria, "The problem is what she might've been telling them."

"What could she tell anyone?" Aria asked, "Aside from the Jenna thing, what have we really done that's so bad? We didn't kill anyone or commit any crimes, so what are we so worried about?"

Spencer stuffed the picture back into her purse and leaned up against a tree, "Alison got us to do things that might not be illegal, but they were supposed to be private. I for one don't want the whole world knowing some of things she talked us into."

Emily gave Spencer an annoyed look, "Just what things are you so embarrassed about?"

"I'm not embarrassed about anything, but that doesn't mean I want the whole world to know about it."

"Okay, let's not fight about this." Aria said, turning her attention to Spencer, "How do you know that Alison told Jenna anything?"

"Apparently my sister has become friends with Jenna and she told me that Jenna has been telling her things about us, things that only Alison would know." Spencer added. Smiling as her friends all looked at her with the same surprised look, she happily added a bit more, "Well for starters, she told Melissa intimate details of some of our slumber parties for example."

"You're kidding?" Aria asked, shocked and a little afraid at the truth getting out.

Hannah couldn't help notice Aria's reaction, "At least they don't know about you and our teacher."

"Hannah." Aria yelled.

"What about our teacher? What teacher?" Spencer asked, trying to figure out what the bickering was about.

"That's really nice Hannah." Aria said, lowering her head as she felt Emily and Spencer staring at her intently. After a few moments she lifted her head, gave Hanna a very evil glare and then tried her best to explain, "I did something stupid. I met this guy, an older guy and he seemed to like me and we kind of made out a bit and then I found out he was our English teacher, Mr. Fitz."

"OMG." Spencer said with a surprised smile, "Just what did you do with him?"

"It doesn't matter." Aria yelled, glaring right at Hannah, "It's over now. He left."

"Maybe that's good." Emily said softly, "Cute or not, he shouldn't be doing anything with his students."

"I couldn't agree more." Hannah said, happy that Emily said what she thinking.

"Well, that's obviously why he left." Aria said, still feeling a need to defend him, "He felt it was wrong and he didn't want to be around me anymore."

"Did you do more than just kiss him?" Emily asked.

"I told you it doesn't matter. I've moved on." Aria turned towards the river and

"No, he moved on. You'd still be with him if he were here, so don't lie about it." Hannah said, her bitterness evident in her tone.

"Why don't you shut up." Aria yelled.

Spencer took a step forward, looking closely at both her friends, "Is anyone going to tell me why there's so much tension in the air?" She turned to Hannah first, but when she turned away she looked over at Aria, "Why is Hannah so upset about this?"

"Ask her." Aria said, turning away from her friends.

"Hannah, would you like to explain why Aria's love life is upsetting you so much?"

"I'm not upset." Hannah growled, "I could care less who she screws around with."

"Why don't I believe that?" Spencer added, watching the interaction between the two girls, "Okay, I'm going to go out in a limb here and tell you what I see. I see two girls having a fight, but not the kind of fight two best friends might have. It seems a lot more like a lover's quarrel. Is that what's going on here?"

Aria and Hannah looked at each other in unison, just adding to the guilty expressions all over their faces.

Emily finally caught on to what was going on and she turned to Hannah who was standing beside her and gave her a tap on the shoulder, "Is Spencer right? Are you two together?"

"No we're not." Hannah said loudly, directing her anger right at Aria, "She'd rather be with old man Fitz."

"He's not that old." Aria yelled back, "He's just a lot more mature than you are."

"Oh really?" Hannah laughed, moving down towards Aria, "Is that so? I guess it's mature to sneak around and screw your teacher? Hmm, something tells me that's not what the word means. I guess if Aria says it then it must be true."

"Let's stop this okay?" Spencer said, pushing the two girls apart, "Obviously there is something going on here and I'm a little disappointed you didn't feel you could tell us about it?"

Hannah let out a sigh, "It's really nothing. We got caught up in Alison's games. She was always pushing things on us, you know that. She liked to push the boundaries and make us feel uncomfortable, but you have to admit, she sure made things more fun."

"Yes, but that was more about Alison showing us she was in control." Spencer said, remembering back to some of Alison's mind games, "We played along because we wanted to please her and because it was fun, but watching and listening to you two just now, that sounded very serious, so are you going to tell us what's going or not?"

Aria took a quick look at Hannah, who gave her a quick shrug and she knew it was time to come clean, "After one of Alison's parties, you and Emily went home and Hannah asked me to sleep over at her place. Her mom was out of town so I said sure. We were both pretty worked up from everything that Alison had us do that night and we just continued on with it."

"Are you saying you had sex together?" Emily asked, giving both girls a chance to reply, but the looks on their faces gave her the answer she was looking for, "Alison said we should never hook up together, because it would ruin our friendship and I guess she was right judging by the sad looks on your faces."

"We didn't plan for things to go any further." Hannah said, still avoiding eye contact with Aria as she turned to Emily, "It was just supposed to be fun. Neither of us thought we could feel this way about each other."

"If we've learned anything in the last few months it's that secrets have a way of coming out." Spencer said, walking slowly down towards Aria so she wouldn't feel alone, "Anyway, can't you find a way to work things out?"

"I want to, but she's too mad to listen to me." Aria said, looking up at Hannah.

Hannah glared back at Aria, "I have good reason to be mad."

Spencer walked over and put her arm around Aria, "What would you like to say to Hannah right now?"

"I don't know." Aria shrugged, taking a quick peak over at Hannah, who was still giving her the evil eye, "It's hard to talk to her when she's like this. I don't blame her for being upset, I know what I did was wrong, but she doesn't know why it happened. It's not why she thinks."

"Who cares why. It won't change what you did." Hannah growled, holding onto her anger as long as she could.

Spencer let out a sigh and looked over at her friend, "Hannah, could you please just let Aria have a chance to explain her side of things?"

"Fine." Hannah groaned, "Speak, but it won't change anything."

Aria walked up and stood in front of Hannah, "You have no idea how sorry am for what I did, but you need to know that I was becoming very confused about everything that was happening between us. I thought it was just sex. That we were just having fun, but when that started to change I got scared. I admit I should've talked to you about what I was feeling, but at the time you were kind of the reason I was feeling this way."

"What way is that?" Hannah asked, not quite sure what Aria was talking about.

"Don't shoot me, but I was afraid I was falling in love with you." Aria said, looking up at the beautiful blonde.

In a flash Hannah's walls came down and a brief smile covered her pretty face, "Why would you be afraid of that? I felt that same thing, but I loved it. I loved how I felt and I wanted to tell you, but I could see you weren't ready for it and I was right."

"Yes, you were right, but what I'm trying to tell you is that I didn't seek out someone because I was unhappy, it was the opposite." Aria said, taking Hannah's hand in hers and looking deep into her eyes, "I'm still not sure what any of this means. It's all new to me, but the things we did because of Alison were all just about fun. It was about pushing things to the limit, but with you it was real. We might've started out just having sex for fun, but we both know that changed almost instantly. I guess when I started thinking about what it meant I panicked. I'm sorry I'm not as strong as you or as politically correct, but I was scared I was you know... gay."

"That's just silly." Hannah said, putting her arms around Aria, "There's nothing to be afraid of. You don't have to put a label on yourself or us."

"I know that now, but like I said I panicked and needed to prove to myself that I was straight. I don't know why, but it seemed deathly important at the time. I went to the diner to think and he was there and, well, he didn't end up proving anything, except that I felt horrible for what I'd done to you. Because of my fear and stupidity I may have lost the best thing that ever happened to me."

Hannah smiled at Aria, "Well, I may not be happy right now, but I'm not ready to give up on you forever either."

"Does that mean you forgive me?" Aria said, her pretty smile lighting up her face again.

All four of their cell phones went off in unison and they each grabbed theirs and one by one they read the text and looked at each other, with Spencer being the first to speak, "Who the hell could know about last night? We were alone in my house."

"If it's not Jenna and Tobey than who else is there?" Emily asked

"I haven't ruled them out." Spencer said shaking her head, "Jenna seems to know everything we did with Alison, so why wouldn't it be her? She has motive. I think being blind gives her a very real reason to want us to suffer."

"I think the fact she knows everything and is happily telling your sister makes her seem less like a suspect." Hannah said, once again proving she wasn't afraid to be brutally honest, "If she were doing this she wouldn't be telling everyone about it, because it makes her look guilty.

"Then we're back to who else could it be?" Spencer wondered

Emily stayed focused on Spencer, "And how could they know what we talked about last night? The only person who has access to your bedroom is your sister."

"No, she can be a bitch at times, but this is way beyond what she's capable of." Spencer's eyes lit up and she looked at her friends, "I think my room is bugged. I know it sounds insane, but how else could someone know what we talked about last night?"

"Not many teenagers would have access to that kind of thing, so maybe it's not someone from school." Hannah said, checking her watch and showing her friends the time.

"We need to be much more careful about what we say from now." Spencer added, gathering her things from the ground, "I'm going home and I'm going to search my room and see if I can find something and if I find one, then we can control what this person hears, that might be helpful."

"I don't think it's smart to mess with some psycho." Aria said, "Let's hope this texting is the closest we get to them. It might be uncomfortable, but I sure don't want to deal with some psycho with a knife or a gun, so I don't want to provoke them.'

Spencer nodded at Aria's concerns as she led the way back to the main part of the park, "I know that, but I meant we could tell them we were going somewhere and then we could be the ones waiting for them to show up. We could say we were going to the park at 7, but get here an hour early and see if anyone shows up."

"That's not a bad idea." Hannah said with an intrigued smile.

"I agree." Emily said, "It might be our best chance to find out who's behind all this."

"Well, I'll call you once I've searched my room and we can talk about what to do then." Spencer smiled and walked towards her car as the other girls split up and went their separate ways as well.

**End of Chapter 2**.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**.

** Flashback, Saturday July 25****nd****, 2009.  
>Alison DiLaurentis' bedroom<strong>.

Emily rolled over in bed and let out a deep sigh, smiling as Alison looked up at her, "I can't believe we just did that. It was amazing."

Alison pulled Emily in for a kiss and promptly rolled on top of her, "That's just the beginning. You're special Emily and from now on it's just going to be you and me. That is what you want, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Emily said excitedly, happily kissing Alison, holding her close, making sure it was all read.

"I'd love it if you could stay the night, but I have to get up early in the morning." Alison slid out of bed and stared at Emily until she got the hint and got up, "I'm really sorry, but you know how it is. I do need my beauty sleep."

"No, it's okay. I hate to leave, because this has been the best night of my life." Emily smiled and put her arms around Alison, "I can't believe you picked me."

"Well, you and I have always had something special and now we've made it official, but you can't tell anyone, not Hanna, Aria or Spencer." Alison stepped back and gave Emily her serious look, "This has to be our secret. Promise me."

"I promise." Emily said with an anxious smile.

"Okay, good." Alison smiled and walked over to her mirror, stopping when she saw Emily standing still, "Well, you really should get dressed. I'm going to have a shower now. I'll talk to you soon."

Emily's smile faded slightly as Alison walked away from her, leaving her all alone and anything but happy. She picked up her clothes that had been scattered across the bedroom, got dressed and had a look around the room before she slowly walked out the door and headed home.

Alison waited for the front door to close before coming out of the bedroom. She took a quick peek out of her window so she could make sure Emily had left and then quickly climbed back into bed and grabbed her cell phone. She had to dial the number by hand as she didn't want anyone to see it on her phone, but as it began to ring, she rolled over onto her back and waited.

"Hello?"

"Melissa, I'm glad you're there. Are you free tonight?"

Melissa smiled at the sound of Alison's voice, "I don't know, what did you have in mind?"

"Oh I think you know what I have in mind and you're the only one who can give to me." Alison hopped up on her bed and began smiling, "I'm on my bed right now. I have next to nothing on and I'd really like some company. I'm sure we could find something fun to do."

"If Spencer ever found out about this I'd die." Melissa said, but got to her feet and began thinking of her last encounter with Alison and all the thoughts of her sister just disappeared, "Okay, I'll be over in a little while."

"I can't wait." Alison said with a sexy grin. She hoped out of bed, tossed her cell phone towards her dresser and sat down in front of her computer. She pulled up a file titled, Love and smiled as she typed in Emily's name and right below it typed it Melissa's. She scrolled up a few pages and moved her mouse over Spencer's name, clicking on her picture which pulled up another page filled with dates and times, with a big black X on the date July 11th, 2009. She opened a second file, pulled up Melissa's picture and copied it to Spencer's file, pasting it right beside the black X, with the word 'payback' in bold writing beside it. After staring at Spencer's picture for a little while, she opened it up with her Paint program and proceeded to viciously cover it with as much ink as she could find. Smiling at the end result, she clicked delete and promptly shut down her computer.

**Flashback Ends**.

**Jenna Marshall's home**.

Jenna sat in her favorite chair watching some entertainment show, but when she heard the doorbell ring, she grabbed her glasses and cane and walked towards the front door. She opened it and smiled when she saw Melissa standing in front of her, "I'm glad it's you." She pulled off her glasses and pulled Melissa inside and began kissing her passionately as the door stood wide open.

After a lengthy kiss, Jenna closed the door and led Melissa back into her living room, "How did Spencer react when you told her everything?"

"Just as you expected." Melissa said, slipping off her light jacket and sitting down on the sofa, "She didn't want to believe that I knew everything and she ended up telling me to leave, but she's sure nervous about something. I just don't know what it is."

"There are a few things I haven't told you yet, because I still don't have all the information, but I think it's becoming very clear that Alison had so many secrets there's no way she told me everything."

"What makes you say that?"

"Alison gave me a journal just before she disappeared." Jenna said, holding a large notebook in her hand, "I think she knew something was going to happen and she wanted me to have it, but I came across a second journal of Alison's and it's even more explosive than the one she gave me."

"Meaning what?" Melissa asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Alison was a very busy girl and she made a lot of enemies in her short time here with us and any one of them could've killed her. I've only read the first half of it and I'm still in shock at some of the things she's done."

"Stop teasing and tell me what you read."

"Some of it is about Spencer and I'm not sure how much you want to hear about that, because it's pretty intense and it's mostly sexual stuff." Jenna studied Melissa closely, watching her reaction to everything she told her, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but it seems Spencer knew Alison on a level none of us ever knew about."

"That can't be true. Spencer never liked Alison." Melissa said, smiling as she shook her head in disbelief, "She put up with her, but she was always telling me what a bitch Alison was and how mean she was to everyone and how she loved making girls do things for her. I just can't believe she would ever fall for Alison's lines."

"Well, it seems as though she did." Jenna walked over to her purse, pulled out a photo album and walked back over to Melissa, "Before you take a look at this you need to know that some of these pictures are very explicit and Spencer is in them with Alison." She walked over to the fireplace and took a look inside the album again, before looking back over at Melissa, "Normally I wouldn't think of letting you see them, but there's more than Spencer and Alison in these pictures. I don't know if you're ready for this."

"You can't tell me something like that and not expect me to look." Melissa grabbed the photo album from Jenna and sat down and began to look at what was inside. The first page was pretty tame, with some assorted pictures of Alison, Spencer, Aria, Hannah and Emily, but as she continued on the pictures soon became only about Spencer and Alison, with many pictures of Spencer posing in various states of undress.

Jenna smiled as she watched Melissa flip through the album, "You don't have to keep looking. I can tell you what's inside."

"I'm fine." Melissa said as calmly as she could manage, all the while looking at pictures of her sister with less and less clothing on. She moved to the next page and let out a slight gasp as she saw Spencer in bed with Alison. She lifted her head up and looked over at Jenna, "These have to be fake. Spencer despised Alison. There's no way she would do this willingly. Are you sure she wasn't forced or something?"

"I promise you there are many pictures that show Spencer with a very big smile on her face, so I really don't think she was forced to do any of it." Jenna grabbed the album from Melissa and shook her head in dismay, "I'm sorry, I should never have let you look at these. It was really stupid."

"You told me that Alison had the girls do a lot of sexual things, are you sure this wasn't one of them?"

"There's more to it than that." Jenna said, pulling out the journal from under the sofa,  
>"This came with this album and it tells the whole story of Alison falling in love with Spencer."<p>

Melissa shook her head in disbelief, "No way. I don't buy it."

"This is her writing." Jenna said loudly, "It's the exact same handwriting as the one she gave me at the hospital. I don't know what it means, but Alison was very upset with Spencer in the weeks before her disappearance and I'm pretty sure it was to do with Spencer breaking up with her."

"I don't understand. I would've known." Melissa said, "Spencer isn't all that great at keeping secrets. Alison had everyone fooled."

"That sounds like experience talking."

Melissa laughed softly, "I didn't know I was being played until just now. After everything Spencer told me about her I can't believe I allowed myself to fall under her spell to. That girl has a way with words, she had me wanting to please her within 10 minutes of meeting her."

"Yep, she knew what she wanted and she knew how to get it." Jenna agreed with a smile, reminiscing about her time with the manipulative blonde. After snapping back to reality, she looked over at Melissa, "What I don't get is why she fell for Spencer, knowing how Spencer felt about her."

"Maybe that's what she needed, someone who didn't fawn all over her." Melissa said, liking her comment more and more as she thought of it, "It does kind of make sense."

Jenna nodded and as she "Did she tell you she loved you?"

"No, I was very clear on where my place was with Alison." Melissa said with a laugh, "She told me up front that she wasn't interested in love. 'It wasn't for her', she used to say, but I guess that was until she fell for Spencer."

"I wonder why Spencer broke it off." Jenna wondered out loud as she continued to look through the album.

Melissa shrugged her shoulders, but offered no answer, much to Jenna's dismay.

**Hannah's bedroom**.

Hannah sat at her computer, making a very poor attempt to do her homework as her mind kept drifting back to Aria. In spite of the pain she felt, she couldn't stop thinking of the good times she had with her, something that always brought a smile to her pretty face.

She grabbed her cell phone and debated calling Aria, but every time she got close to following through on that thought, she'd push her cell phone away and bury her head in her homework again.

A knock on her bedroom door got her attention quickly. She walked over and opened the door, but let out a disappointed sigh when she saw her mother standing in front of her, "It's you. What do you want?"

Ashley smiled at her daughter, "That's not a very happy greeting. Is something wrong?"

Hannah turned around and walked over to her bed and sat down, not sure if she should tell her mother anything, but since things couldn't get much worse she figured why not, "Mom, have you ever fell in love with someone that maybe you didn't expect and then have them do something that hurt you so much you could barely stand to look at them?"

Ashley mother followed Hannah over to the bed and stood in front of her unusually sad daughter, "What's this about? I didn't know things had gotten that far with Sean"

"Oh mom it's not Sean." Hannah said with an annoyed huff, "He's just a friend, sort of, but that's not who I'm talking about. It doesn't matter who it is, but how do you get past something that hurts when it's all you think about? I want to move on, but it's just so hard. Every time I see her, I mean, see them I get so upset."

"I feel like I'm missing something here. I thought Sean was your boyfriend? Is that not true?"

"Stop talking about him. Would you just listen? Maybe he was my boyfriend, but he won't be for long. I have to break up with him, but he's not the problem here." Hannah got up, nervously pacing around her small bedroom, finally stopping at her desk where she took a deep breath and exhaled, "Okay, I have to tell you something and I just hope you understand that this is all new for me, but I can't hold it in anymore."

"You know you can tell me anything. I'm here for you no matter what it is." Ashley said, "Take your time and let me know what's going on with you."

"Okay, um, something kind of happened between Aria and me and I don't know what to do about it."

"I'm going to need a few more details if I'm going be able to help."

"It's just that it's hard to explain because I have to leave some things out." Hannah said, knowing she couldn't get into all the things Alison had her do. "Okay, let's just say that Aria and I have become very close over the last few months and well, to make a very long story very short, I think I'm in love with her."

Ashley did her very best not to look shocked, "I see. I had no idea you and Aria were…so close."

"I know it's a shock to hear this. You don't have to pretend you aren't surprised. That's not even the problem." Hannah said, "I have no problem being in love with her, but she did something that really hurt me and I don't know what to do about it."

"Well, can you tell me what she did?"

"She kissed someone else. A guy. An older guy. A much older guy." Hannah said, growing increasingly agitated each time she thought about it, "I don't want to say more because I don't like thinking about it. She said it was because she was confused and I think I believe her, but all I can think about is her kissing someone else. It just makes me so mad. I can't even concentrate if I think about it."

"Well, that was wrong of her if you two were together at the time."

Hannah let out another soft groan, "That's the thing, we weren't really together. It's complicated, but we were just getting to that point. This is hard to explain, but even if we weren't officially a couple, I felt like we were and I thought she did to, so is it cheating if it wasn't official?"

"I'm not sure I want to answer that." Ashley said with a slight smile, "I happen to like Aria and I'm surprised that she would do anything to intentionally hurt you. If she's apologized and if there was some confusion on her part, then I guess it's up to you to decide what's more important, feeling angry or finding a way to forgive her and move on."

"But how do you forgive?" Hannah asked, but as her mother began to speak, she continued, "I mean I understand the idea behind it, but how do you stop yourself from thinking about the kiss? I can't do that. I keep seeing it in my head and I want him to disappear forever. Will time really heal this?"

Ashley nodded and smiled at her daughter, "Yes, believe it or not, time does heal most everything. Now, if you were with Aria for a few months, why was Sean just here the other night?"

"I told you I was going to break up with him. I guess I wasn't exactly showing Aria I was ready to move on with her either. I never even thought of that." Hannah said with a heavy sigh, "She probably thinks I was with Sean the whole time we were together. It wasn't like that with Sean. At one point I wanted him to be the one, but once I was with Aria I knew that she was the one, because I had never felt like that with Sean."

"I just want you to be happy and if Aria makes you happy then I hope you find a way to work things out with her. But, if you can't get past this then I know you'll find someone else."

"I don't want anyone else." Hannah yelled, before smiling at her mother, "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell, but I want to be with Aria, but maybe it's too soon? Maybe I need to let time do its thing."

"I can't tell you what to do, but I think you're on the right track."

"I hope so." Hannah said. She got to her feet and smiled at her mother, "Are you fine with me liking Aria?"

"Of course I am. We don't pick who we fall in love with, so as long as you're happy I'm happy." Ashley gave Hannah a hug and looked at her watch, "So, what do you want for dinner tonight?"

"I'm not really hungry." Hannah said with a sigh.

Ashley grabbed her daughter by the hand and led her downstairs, "You need to eat."

**End of Chapter 3**.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**.

**Rosewood High School**.

Lucas slipped away into the library, found a quiet aisle and pulled out his cell phone, "Pick up if you're there. This is important." He waited for about ten rings and was about to hang up when someone finally answered, "We have a problem. Alison wants to come back home. She's bored. I told you this would happen. She's too self involved to live the quiet life, even if that's what she said she wanted."

After shaking his head at everything he was hearing from the voice on the other end, Lucas got annoyed and interrupted, "No, this is not going to fall apart now. We've worked too hard to get this far, that selfish bitch is not going to ruin it. I know we said we didn't want to take drastic measures, but if she comes back she's going to tell everyone what happened and our lives are going to be over. I'm not ready for that. I've just spent the last month getting close to Hannah, there's no way I'm letting Alison get in the way."

Again Lucas moaned and groaned as he listened to more of what he didn't want to hear, before he jumped into the conversation again, "That's not true. Hannah does like me that way. I can tell. She's slowly coming around. Why would you say I'm not her type? She sure isn't into her boyfriend, that I do know. I've spent over a year waiting for this moment so you better call Alison and talk her out of this stupid idea. You have more to lose than I do. I might lose my chance with Hannah, but you'll lose everything, so make sure you change her mind, one way or the other."

Hannah walked into the library, walked down a couple aisles and pulled out a book from the rack. She opened it up, flipped through the first few pages until she got to something she found interesting. She sat down against the large bookshelf and began to read. As she was reading she heard a noise behind her. She recognized the voice and got to her feet. She walked around and saw Lucas talking on the phone.

He quickly closed his cell phone and smiled at Hannah, "Hi there. What brings you to the library?"

Now it was Hannah's turn to be evasive, sliding the book into her purse while being sure to keep her perky smile on her face, "I'm just doing some more studying for when we really have to take the SAT's. What are you up to?"

"Nothing really. Same thing as you." Lucas said rather awkwardly, not nearly as good at being deceptive as Hannah was, "Maybe we could study together?"

"That sounds nice, but I really need to get home. My mom's been going through a tough time and I hate to leave her alone. Maybe I could get a rain check?" Hannah asked, doing her best to not hurt his feelings.

"Sure. That's fine. I probably should get going. I have some things I need to take care of. I'll see you tomorrow then." Lucas smiled politely and walked briskly out of the library, picking up his pace as he walked down the long hallway, finally turning into the boy's washroom, where he walked inside and slammed his hand on the counter. After wincing at how much it hurt, he quickly put his hand under the tap and ran cold water over it, still cursing another lost opportunity with Hannah.

**Aria's Home**.

Aria waited for her brother to go to baseball practice and then walked into the den where her dad was working. She stood silent for a few minutes, hoping he'd notice her and ask her in, but since he didn't she had to make the first move. She cleared her throat until he looked up from his desk and then smiled at him, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to talk to someone about something and since mom isn't here I was hoping I could talk to you."

"Of course." Her dad, Byron Montgomery said, getting to her feet and motioning her forward, "Come in. You can always talk to me."

"Well, this is kind of different than my normal problems. It has to do with my love life, sort of." Aria walked up to his desk, but instead of sitting down in front of him, she stood fidgeting with her hair until she could find the right words to use, "I made a mistake and now the person I was with is upset."

Byron couldn't help but smile at his daughter's situation, "I know all about mistakes, but it really depends on what kind of mistake you're talking about."

"Oh it's the same kind as yours." Aria said quickly, "Well, I didn't actually sleep with this person, but I did kiss them, but now the person I was seeing hates me."

"I wasn't aware you were dating anyone."

"I don't tell you and mom everything. I'd like to have some mystery in my life." Aria said, still not ready to get into the details, "It doesn't matter who it is, I'm just trying to figure out how to get someone to forgive you when they are known for holding grudges a long time."

"Well, all you can do is tell them you're sorry and keep repeating it until they are ready to hear it. You can't force them to forgive you on your schedule."

"But I see them every day. We are in a lot of the same classes and we are friends to. It's just so hard to be rejected by her every day." Aria finished her sentence and then realized she'd just used the word 'her'. She looked at her father and could tell by the look on his face that he heard what she said loud and clear.

"Did you say her? Is this about a girl? Are you dating a girl?" Byron asked in rapid succession, clearly not pleased by what he'd heard.

"I knew you would do this. You've never been very understanding about anything." Aria said, suddenly feeling like she was on display. She took a few seconds to calm down and then looked back over at her father, "It's true. I have been seeing someone for a while now and we've gotten really close, but don't worry dad, you should be proud of me, because I went and kissed a guy trying to prove I was straight, so maybe you could go find him and see if he can change me back."

"Alright Aria, I don't like that attitude." He got up and walked around to the front of his desk, still thinking about what to say, "I just think that maybe this happened for a reason. Perhaps this is a sign that you weren't meant to be with this girl. Young people go through a lot of changes in high school, everyone is experimenting and sometimes they get confused and I'm sure that's all this is."

"Why did I know you'd say that? At least I know where I get my fear from. How can someone who teaches young people be such a bigot." Aria said, growing angrier by the second, "I guess if I would've cheated on a guy with another guy you'd probably just pat me on the back and send me out there until I landed myself a boyfriend?"

"You sure have your mothers sense of drama." He said with a slight grin, "I know you don't agree with me, but maybe in time you will."

"I think I'm going to move in with mom. I can't be around you right now. I thought maybe you'd understand what I was going through, but I guess I learned the cheating and the fear mongering from you. You sure taught me some good things. I'll tell you what, you did you help me see what really matters to me and that's my girlfriend. She's who I need to be talking to, not you." Aria took a few steps towards the door to the den and turned around, "I still love you dad, in spite of your views, but I really need to be with mom right now."

"Aria, you don't have to do this." He rushed over to his daughter and got in front of her, "I'm sorry. I was out of line and I can see that I've upset you. Please don't leave. Give me a chance to show you that I'm capable of changing."

"I can't make you change how you think. That's up to you and I don't think you want to. Do you think it's okay for me to date another girl?"

After letting out a deep sigh, her father sat down in a stool and shook his head, "I think that if this is what you want then I need to support you. Your mother was always making sure I didn't put my foot in my mouth too often, but she did teach me to be fair and I wasn't with you just now. So, did you want to tell me who you were dating? Do I know them? Whether it's a boy or a girl, your mother and I would like to meet them."

Aria smiled at her dad, "Now I wonder if I should've just shut up, but you do know her. I need you to promise you won't be rude to her if she ever forgives me and wants to come over. My friends do not need to be subject to any negative vibes when they're here."

"I promise I'll be on my best behavior. I'll make sure you're mother is here and we'll both sit down and have a talk with her."

"Dad, you don't have to do that." Aria said, cringing at the thought, "But, the good part is, you already know her and have talked to her hundreds of times and you both like her. It's Hannah Marin."

"Well, I didn't see that coming, but that's okay. Um, that's nice." Byron said with only a hint of shock covering his face, "She is a very nice girl. I think the fact we know her will makes things much easier. I've always been nice to your friends, I think you'd agree with that, so I hope you can work things out with her and I'll be nothing but friendly with her as always."

"Good. I hope you mean that." Aria turned to walk away again, but stopped and turned back towards her father, "I don't want you to get upset, but I do need to go talk to mom now. She needs to know and I do miss her so much."

"That's fine. Did you want me to drive you over there?"

"No, I can do it." Aria walked over and gave her dad a hug and then let out a sigh of relief as she ran up to her room with one less obstacle in her road.

Aria took a detour on the way to her mother's house, stopping outside of Hannah's house, looking up at her bedroom and smiling when she saw the light on. She pulled out her cell phone and gave her call.

Hannah reached over and grabbed her cell phone, picked it up and couldn't help but smile at the sight of Aria's name popping up. She hesitated for a moment, but it didn't last long as she happily fell on her bed, "Hi."

"I'm glad you picked up. I still feel horrible about everything and I'm not going to stop until you forgive me. Is there any way we can talk for a bit?"

"Um, I guess so. I probably need that right now. Did you want to meet somewhere?"

"Actually, I'm outside your house. If you go to your bedroom window you can see me."

Smiling at the thought of Aria being so close, Hannah got up and looked down and continued smiling, "Well, I guess we can talk in my room if you want."

"Oh I do." Aria said, waving up at Hannah.

"Come on up." Hannah closed her phone and watched as Aria walked towards her front door. Assuming Aria would walk right in, Hannah began checking herself in the mirror, making sure she looked her best. She then undid a button on her blouse and sat back down at her desk and waited for Aria to walk in the room.

Aria knocked gently on the door even though it was pushed open a little, waiting for Hannah to verbally invite her in. She smiled and instinctively closed the door behind her. She smiled even more when she saw Hannah smiling seductively at her, "You seem to be in a better mood today."

"I am." Hannah said, motioning for Aria to come join her on the bed. Once Aria had made herself comfortable, Hannah sat up beside her, "I think maybe I can understand why you did what you did with the Mr. Fitz. I don't like it at all, but I do get how you might've been confused or afraid or whatever. I just wish you would've talked to me about it. I'm going through this with you. You have to know that I've had all those same feelings myself. When I'm with you all my doubts and confusion disappear and I know it's right."

"You make me feel silly, because I feel that way when I'm with you to. I never feel anything but good and happy when I'm with you, but sometimes when I'm home alone and I start to think and then I create problems that don't even exist." Aria grabbed Hannah's hands and squeezed them tightly, "I'm just so sorry for what happened. It only showed me how much I love you. I hope you know that. You make me so happy and I will never take that for granted again."

"I believe you. Let's just forget about what happened. I want to move forward, but I think I need to ask you something." Hannah got up from the bed, her smile fading slightly as she walked slowly towards the window. She turned and looked back at Aria, "With everything that's going on with this person pretending to be Alison, I have a feeling the truth is going to come out and the whole school is going to find out about us and I need to know if you're ready for that?"

Aria took her time as she thought about the question, but soon got to her feet and walked over to Hannah, "I probably wasn't ready even a week ago, but after thinking I might've lost you forever, I don't care about anything but being with you. I know that the people who matter will be happy for us and if they aren't, they aren't real friends."

"I'm really happy you said that, but I don't want to put pressure you to do something you're not ready for. I'm happy being with you the way we are now, but I will admit that I'm more than a little excited and proud to show the world how lucky I am to have you as my girlfriend."

"You sure know how to make me smile." Aria put her arms around Hannah and gave her a very happy kiss. She continued to kiss Hannah, hoping she wouldn't pull away and as the kiss grew and grew, she knew she it wasn't going to end for a very long time.

**End of Chapter 4.**

**PS: I've received a lot of suggestions for who Emily should be paired with, in fact when I count the emails and the reviews, people have suggested 6 different girls they'd like her to end up. :) Unfortunately, that means a lot of people are going to be disappointed, but I hope you can keep an open mind and find a way to enjoy her story either way.  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**.

**Trenton, Pennsylvania**.

Alison flipped through the channels on her big screen TV, moaning at how little there was to watch, finally turning it off and walking over to the front window, becoming increasingly impatient at being locked inside for so long.

She grabbed her purse, looked up at the video camera above the door, gave it the finger and walked outside. She smiled and smelled the fresh air, embracing what she'd been missing for the last year. Before she had taken three steps, a car pulled up and two large men got out and began walking towards her. Knowing they weren't there to help, she turned and ran into the back yard of the sprawling mansion she'd been staying in, rushed towards the big cage on the west side of the lawn, opened it up and as the two men came into view, she sicked the two very large Alaskan Malamute's on the two men and continued her escape through the north gate and into the thick woods.

She ran and ran and ran and then ran some more, searching for a safe place to stop and take a break. After being on the move for a good thirty minutes, she stopped near a small river, leaning down and splashing water over her face. She pulled out her cell phone and hesitated before finally making the call she'd promised she'd never make.

Emily picked up her cell phone, "Hello?"

"You're not going to believe this but I need you to listen to me. I need to apologize for so many things, but right now I'm in trouble. Real trouble."

"Alison?" Emily questioned softly, her knees buckling at the sound of her voice, "Is that you? It can't be you. Who is this?"

"It is me." Alison said, her powerful voice unmistakable to anyone, "I know you recognize my voice and I know I've made your life a living hell for the last year, but I need your help right now. Please tell me you'll come for me?"

"I don't understand what's going on." Emily said, shaking her head at the thought of talking to a ghost, "You're dead. They found your body. What the hell is going on?"

"I'll explain everything once you get here, but I think I'm in real danger right now. I had some people help fake my death and I think they want me dead for real now. It's a long story, but you're the only I trust. You know I still love you right?"

"Don't you dare say that to me." Emily yelled, "You made think you were dead. You treated me horribly before you disappeared. Whatever mess you're in, you probably brought it on yourself."

"Emily, could you save the lecture until later. I'm not kidding here. I'm in danger." Alison said, spending the whole time spinning in a circle, hoping she was finally safe, "There's two men chasing me right now. I may not get another chance to escape."

"Escape what?" Emily asked angrily.

Alison kicked a small piece of wood floating in the river, "And you wonder why I order you around, you don't stay focused. I promise I will tell you everything, but you need to come to Trenton. I don't know exactly where I am, but when I find a safe place to stop I'll call you. I'm not in the city, I'm in some fancy place just outside of the city. There's some really expensive houses here and that's all I know. I didn't want to know where I was, because when I made this happen I was sure I would never return."

"You are so annoying. You have no idea what you've put me through, put all of us through." Emily yelled. She paced back and forth for a few moments, trying to calm down. Finally, putting her ear to her phone again, "I'll tell you what, I don't know if you're telling the truth now or not, but I will come and find you and bring you back, but we're done. We are so done you have no idea. I've moved on. I'm done pining over you, dead or alive, I'm over you. You will never manipulate me again."

"WOW, you really have changed." Alison said, nodding with a smile at Emily's new attitude, "You have every right to be mad, but I know I can make it up to you. Don't shut the door on me now. Give me a chance to explain everything."

"I'll be there when I get there."

"Okay, short and sweet, I like that." Alison said with an appreciative smile, "I want you to know something so you can think about it when you're driving here. I love you. I was never able to say it before and I'm sorry, but I've had a long time to think and the only thing that I miss about that stupid town is you."

A smile appeared on Emily's face briefly, but she shook her head, refusing to think about what might've been, "I'm leaving now."

"Emily. Emily." Alison yelled, growling as she got a dial tone. Normally she'd be annoyed if someone talked to her like that, but she couldn't stop smiling at the new, stronger Emily who'd didn't fall at her feet at the sound of the voice this time.

Back at the house Alison was staying at, the two men fought off the dogs and were back out at their car. One of the men was bandaging up his leg and arm, a reminder of what it's like to mess with two angry dogs, while the other pulled out his cell phone and made a call.

"Fitz here."

"Mr. Fitz, we weren't able to capture the young woman at the house. What would you like us to do next?"

Ezra got up from his chair, calmly walked over and locked the door to his classroom and then walked back over to the back of the room, "What the hell went wrong? She's a teenage girl and you couldn't manage to subdue her and bring her back here?"

"You didn't tell us this place had two very large guard dogs." The man said, holding up his ripped and bloodied arm as if to prove his point, "She let them loose and they almost killed us and she ran off into the woods. I'm sure she'll be back. She didn't have time to take anything with her."

"You have no idea what that young woman is capable of. She's smart, resourceful and incredibly creative, so if you think she's just going to waltz back into your arms you better think again." Ezra took a few long breaths before continuing, "Okay, she's going to come back to Rosewood, that's where her precious Emily is, so we're going to have to use her as a bargaining tool."

"Mr. Fitz, I thought the plan was to kill Alison once she'd been pronounced dead for real. Isn't her estate what you're really after?"

"No, the money will be nice, but I want her to suffer first." Ezra said, seething at the thought of being rejected by Alison, "She made a fool of me and then she made a fool out of my step brother Lucas and she is not going to run back to her old life and find love and happiness after all that."

"We agreed to help because this girl was presumed dead, so killing her wouldn't be much of a risk, but if that changes we're out."

"Listen to me you piece of shit, I own you." Ezra yelled, not caring who heard him, "I know all about your life of petty crimes and if I want to I can make sure you and your idiot partner go to prison for a very long time."

"Mr. Fitz, what you fail to remember is that we know all about you as well. We know what you did or tried to do this Alison girl and what you've been doing to young girls since you became a teacher. I promise you that your trip to prison would be a lot more unpleasant than ours."

Ezra grabbed his cell phone and tossed it across the room. He pounded the wall until a loud knock on the door brought him back to reality. He adjusted his hair and put on a smile and walked over and opened his door.

Lucas walked in and closed the door behind him, "Did they get Alison?"

"No." Ezra said as he grit his teeth, "I knew we should've killed her months ago. All we did was let her live the life of luxury for a year."

"You said we couldn't kill her before and you were right." Lucas said, explaining the obvious, "What about her brother? If he stills owes you money, then we can get it from him."

"I don't care about the money." Ezra yelled again, "Why does everyone keep bringing up the money? I want that bitch to pay. Nobody makes a fool of me. Nobody."

"Why are you so hung up on this?" Lucas questioned, "So she turned you down, big deal. She humiliated me for years in front of the whole school, so maybe you should just get over this hit to your ego."

Ezra grabbed Lucas by the neck and pushed him up against the wall, "Don't talk to me like that. I'm the one who helped you escape from her daily wrath. She is not going to come back here and ruin my life by telling the world I hit on her."

"Nobody is going to believe her. She has no witnesses." Lucas said, finally breaking free of Ezra's grip, "Right now we've done nothing wrong. It was her idea to pretend she was missing. She can't prove we helped her stay missing. Why not just forget about her and let's just move on."

"Why is everyone quitting on me?" Ezra yelled, kicking the garbage can across the room, "Where is Mona? She might be the only person left that still wants to see Alison dead."

"You might be right." Lucas said with a smile, "She's finally taken Alison's place in school and I know she's not going to be happy to have her back."

"Then go find her and tell her I need to see her." Ezra ordered, glaring daggers at his usually timid step brother, "I want to be working with people who have the same goal in mind that I do. If you are not going to help me then you are going to be treated like an enemy."

"Ezra, stop being like this. You always get so upset you don't think straight." Lucas walked over to his desk, opened up the side drawer and picked up a small bottle of pills, "Did you stop taking your meds again? You know what happens when you don't take them. You make mistakes and this is one mistake you don't want to make."

Ezra sat down and took a sip of water. He grabbed his bottle of water, pulled out a couple pills, promptly put them into his mouth and washed it down with some more water. After putting them back in his drawer he looked back at his step brother, "Happy?"

"Yes, because you need to be at your best if Alison comes back here. She doesn't know you're involved, so just go back to teaching and we'll look for another opportunity to get her back, okay?"

"I don't have much choice do I? She's going to tell someone about the two men who were chasing after her, that's what I'm worried about."

"For all she knows it could've been a robbery gone wrong. I'll talk to her when she surfaces and I'll see what she plans on doing now." Lucas let out a relieved sigh as he walked around and stood in front of Ezra, "I don't think she knows that Emily has moved on with the new girl Maya. I think that once she finds that out she's going to revert back to the Alison that everyone hated, which would make it much easier for us to get rid of her for good, because there will be a whole school full of suspects if she goes back to her old ways."

"That almost sounds promising." Ezra said with a hint of a smile, "Do you still have the pictures of Emily and Maya kissing? I think you should make copies and put some in her mailbox and anywhere else she might be. Let's not wait for Alison to become a bitch."

"Okay, I'll get right on it." Luca said as she walked towards the door and left the room.

**Rosewood Mall**.

Mona walked out of the clothing store with a half dozen bags in her arms, smiling as she walked down the busy mall with her two followers. When her cell phone went off, she stopped in her tracks, looked at her two minions and they quickly grabbed the bags from her arms so she could reach into her purse and pull out her cell phone, "Hello?"

"Do you want to tell me how two men were able to walk into my house and almost kill me today?"

"Alison, what are you talking about?"

"I think you know what. I knew that you and Lucas weren't helping me out of the goodness of your hearts, but I didn't think you were going to kill me. That's a bit harsh isn't it?"

"You are making no sense." Mona said, while not budging a bit as her maid continued to paint her nails, "I hope you aren't still thinking about coming back here, because if you do you're going to have a lot of questions to answer, like why you faked your own death and why you wasted so much of the police departments time and resources and why you put your family and friends through so much sadness and grief. You're better off starting over somewhere else, so tell me where you want to move and I'll set it up for you."

"No, I don't think so." Alison said quickly, "I overheard you and Lucas talking the other night, that's why I decided it was time for me to leave this place. I also taped your conversation so I know all about your plans to kill me and take my inheritance from my stupid brother, so I think you're going to have some questions to answer when I get back home."

"That's not true. We never had any conversation like that, because all we were doing was helping you. So nice bluff, but all we did was give you a place to stay. Now, I've finally taken over where you left off and you're not going to get in the way of that. It's taken me too long to get here, so you need to stay away."

"You know why you were never popular Mona? Because you're not very smart." Alison said sharply, "You're ambitious, but ambition without intelligence is, well as the saying goes, it's like a bird without wings. Just so you understand what I'm talking about, if you want to take me on then you're dumber than I thought."

Feeling like her world was crumbling in front of her, Mona turned her frown into a smile, "Okay, I don't want to fight you, but I won't go back to where I was before. Maybe we can work something out. I don't see your friends welcoming you back after what you did, so maybe I can be part of your new circle of friends."

"Well, I'm sure we can work something out, but I need you to do something for me first. Tell me who else is in on this? There's no way you or Lucas are smart enough to plan this or set it all up, so who's pulling your strings?"

"Nobody. It's no secret that Lucas and I were happy to help you leave. You asked us remember? We didn't come to you, so why are acting like someone else is involved? You are always in control Alison, so I can't tell what isn't true."

"I don't believe you, but I don't have time to argue. I'm telling you this, if I find out you're lying to me now you're going to wish you weren't born and you know I mean it."

Mona paced in a circle around the water fountain at the mall, finally giving in to yet another of Alison's threats, "Fine, but you can't tell them I told you. This person is kind of crazy so he'd probably try and kill me or something if he found out."

"He?" Alison smiled, knowing she'd gotten her way once again, "So, who is this mystery man? Don't keep me waiting Mona."

"Oh god, this is not how it was supposed to turn out. Okay, okay, it's Mr. Fitz." Mona said a little louder than she realized, almost forgetting she was in the middle of a crowded mall, "When you turned him down and embarrassed him in the process he just lost it. He wanted revenge and this was the perfect opportunity."

"He's a teacher? OMFG, that is so perfect. He's going to be easier to take down than I thought."

"Well, he knows Lucas." Mona whispered, moving off to a quiet section of the mall, "They don't have the same name, but they are step brothers. He wanted to help Lucas and he wanted revenge, so he helped us get everything ready."

"This is so good." Alison smiled, "I can't believe that perv is so hung up on me that he wants me dead? He must be crazy, but that is going to work for me."

"You shouldn't be anywhere near him." Mona warned, "He has a really bad temper. I've seen it a few times when things weren't going well, he just snaps and he really hates you, I mean the really scary kind of hate."

"I'm not afraid of him. He's going to learn that you don't mess with Alison DiLaurentis and get away with it."

"Just keep me out of it. I don't even want to be around when you two finally meet again."

Alison couldn't help but smile, "Oh Mona, you are going to be around, you're going to help me put Mr. Fitz away for a very long time."

"No. No. No." Mona screamed, getting so upset she actually pulled her hand away and got to her feet, "I don't want to be involved in this stuff. I know I said I wanted to take your place, but it's not worth it."

"Would you stop whining." Alison said with an annoyed eye roll, "Mr. Fitz is going down. Now you are going to help or you are going to go down with him. Am I making myself clear?"

"You are such a bitch."

"Well yes, but you always knew that." Alison said proudly, "When I get back home we are going to have a talk and I know just the way to get Mr. Fitz out of the picture for good.

Emily waited until she had made the turn onto highway 246 before she pulled off to the side of the road. She pulled out her cell phone and sent the exact same message to her three friends, "Alison is alive. I don't know the whole story so don't tell anyone yet. I'm picking her up in Trenton. I'll call when we get back."

Once she'd sent her message she got back on the road, still thinking about what she would say when she saw Alison again.

**End of Chapter 5**.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**.

**Flashback**

**August 8th, 2009,.**

**Alison DiLaurentis' Home**.

Emily walked up the long cobblestone driveway like she'd done a hundred times before. She was smiling and hopping along as if she were walking on air. Everything was going her way and that's why she knew that surprising Alison would be a perfect way to end the weekend.

She rang the doorbell of Alison's beautiful home, but her excitement took a momentary hit as Alison's brother Jason answered the door. He smiled and proceeded to look her over from head to toe before saying a word, "You must be here for Alison."

"Yes, is she home?"

"Oh she's home alright. She's out back by the pool." Jason said, motioning towards the back of the house, "I'd show you the way but I'm on my way out. If you ever get bored with my sister give me a call." 

Emily didn't get a chance to reply as he disappeared into the massively large garage just off to the west of her. She closed the door and walked through the fancy house, finally making her way outside to the swimming pool.

She couldn't stop smiling as she thought of everything she wanted to say to Alison, but as she was about to step out from under the awning, she heard voices and then just as quickly she stopped in her tracks and covered her mouth in disbelief.

Alison was straddling a very naked Spencer, while rubbing lotion all the way down her back. Every now and then she'd lean down and kiss her neck and cheek until Spencer turned and offered up her lips to kiss instead. As Alison began to kiss Spencer harder and deeper, Spencer rolled over onto her side and then sat up in the long comfy lawn chair, "I said I didn't want to do that."

"Come on, why do you always do this?" Alison asked with a playful whisper, while sliding in beside Spencer, "I know you love it, so there's no need to play hard to get."

"I'm not. I heard you tell Emily that she was special and that you chose her over everyone else, was that a lie?"

"Don't bring her up right now. This is about us." Alison said in her usual demanding way, "Why can't you ever lighten up and have some fun? You are always so tense and I'm beginning to grow tired of it."

"Well good, because I didn't invite myself over, you invited me. You said we'd just go for a swim and nothing else, but I knew you couldn't do that."

"And yet you showed up anyway. Isn't that interesting?" Alison said, knowing she held all the cards, like always.

"No it's not. I just keep hoping that we can be friends again and that one day you'll take no for answer." Spencer reached down and picked up her bikini top and bottoms, slipped them on and grabbed her purse from the ground, "It looks like that's never going to happen, so maybe I should go."

"Why do you keep doing this to me?" Alison said, her ever present smile replaced by a much angrier frown, "I have gone out of my way to make you feel special and still you resist. What makes you think you can treat me like this?"

"What are you talking about?" Spencer asked with an annoyed laugh, "Are you in love with Emily or not?"

"It's possible to care about more than one person." Alison yelled, taking a few steps backwards, "I love you and I hate that, because you really don't deserve it. If you think I'm happy about feeling this way for someone who doesn't even seem to like me, you're crazy. I just thought that we could have some fun, but whatever, if you don't want to be with me there's plenty of girls that do, so you can leave and don't come back."

"Alison, it doesn't have to be this way." Spencer said, once again moving towards Alison, "I'm not mad. I just want to be friends. That's all. I don't see why that has to change anything."

"Maybe because I don't like being humiliated and I don't think I can look at you and not have stress related symptoms. I don't like being rejected, it makes me very unhappy and when I'm unhappy I usually do something I'll regret."

Spencer leaned in close, "Are you threatening me?"

Alison let out a sigh and put on her happy smile again, "No, I would never do that. I'm just upset okay. Do you think it's fun to be turned down like this?"

"I'm not turning you down. We've never really done anything together." Spencer said, "I never thought you even liked me to be honest with you. Every time you played those sex games you'd always pick the other girls to do things for you, but never me."

"That's because you never seemed into it like they did. Emily, Hannah and Aria all loved it." Alison said with a very proud smile, "They were so willing to do anything I asked and I loved it. But you just seemed so tense and afraid, I didn't think you wanted to do those things and judging by your constant rejection of me, I can see I was right."

"There's something else that I found out that has probably affected my friendship with you." Spencer put her purse down again and sat back down beside Alison, "I know about you and my sister and I just can't get past that."

"OMG. How did you find out?"

"It doesn't matter. You know I don't get along with Melissa and for you to be with her like that, I can never forgive you for it."

"I know it was wrong, but you kept saying no. I got upset. I told you, I do stupid things when I get upset. I wanted you to suffer. I admit it. I knew you'd hate it and yet I didn't care." Alison continued to shift back and forth from being deadly serious to being happy and smiling, but never staying on one for too long. She put the smile back on her face as she continued her apology, "But, I care now. I feel bad. I don't feel anything for Melissa. I know it's too late now, but I really wanted to make you like me more. Everyone likes me, but you just never really came around."

"Just because I didn't grovel at your feet doesn't mean I didn't like you. But for you to use my sister to get back at me for something I didn't even do, that's just sick." Spencer said, making very sure she emphasized the word sick, "You say you care about Emily? If you did you wouldn't be trying to get me into bed right now. You wouldn't be sleeping with my sister for revenge. You wouldn't be having Aria and Hannah performing sex acts on you while Emily looked on. Do you even know what love is?"

"Stop judging me. I told you I was sorry. I meant it but I'm not saying it again." Alison got up and walked towards the edge of the pool, "I'm not going to beg you not to tell Emily about this, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't."

"I can't stand by and watch you manipulate us like this anymore. The sex games have to stop or Emily is going to find out about all this. I hate to ask this, but I guess now is the time, but have you been with any other girls? I've seen you with Jenna a few times, so what's going on with her?"

"You know Spencer, you can be a real bitch sometimes." Alison said, more surprised than offended by her question, "Asking me something like that is so rude. You have no respect for me at all do you?"

"What kind of answer is that?" Spencer asked with a confused smile, "Sounds a bit defensive to me."

"Shouldn't I be offended." Alison laughed, "You obviously think I'm the town slut, so should I smile and thank you?"

"I just asked if anything was going on with her."

"I don't answer to you, so I think it's time you left."

"Then I have my answer." Spencer said with a cocky smile. She grabbed her purse again and began to walk away.

Alison grabbed Spencer's arm and pulled her to a stop, "I did not say anything, so stop assuming."

Spencer pulled her arm away and glared at Alison, "Don't do that. You might be a smooth talker, but you're not an athlete and you don't want to mess with me."

"That sounds like a threat."

"No Alison, it just means don't put your hands on me." Spencer continued to stare at the pretty blonde in front of her and as Alison looked back at her with those hypnotic eyes of her, Spencer took a step towards her and without saying a word pulled Alison in for a very hot passionate kiss.

Alison happily returned the kiss and began sliding her hands up and down Spencer's tall lean body, finally getting a chance to enjoy her they way she'd always dreamed. She quickly pulled Spencer down on the towels and continued to kiss her hard and deep, moving her hands down up and down her thighs, before sliding the strings loose from her bottoms.

Spencer rolled Alison onto her back, sat up above her, reached back and removed her bikini top and smiled as she tossed it to the ground. She grabbed Alison's hands and pulled them up and over her perky breasts, allowing Alison to touch them for the very first time.

As Spencer leaned back down to kiss Alison again, Emily turned around and ran out of the house as fast as she could.

** End of Flashback**.

Emily reached into her purse as her phone began to ring. She pulled out her cell phone and held it up to her ear, "Hello."

"Emily, I hope you're getting close, because I really need to get back Rosewood. I'm at a gas station somewhere outside of Trenton. I can see the city from here, but I can't tell how far away it is. I'd guess a couple miles away. There's also a diner here and couple other small convenience stores. The name of the diner is Smooth's Eatery. Nice huh? Anyway, I don't want to been seen, so I'm going to hang around the back for now. There's not many people here, but I don't trust anyone right now so I really can't wait to see you."

"Don't be so sure about that. I'm only doing this because as mad as I am I don't want anything bad happening to you. But once we are back in Rosewood you are on your own."

"Emily, don't be like that. I've had a year to think about everything I've done to you and to everyone else. I think I've changed. I'm asking for a second chance. Could you at least hear me out? I know I need to apologize to you and everyone else, but especially to you."

"Don't do that. I'm not falling for your words anymore. They don't mean anything to me because you lie like most people breathe and I don't believe a thing you say. Now I'm driving so stop bothering me." Emily closed her phone and threw it into her purse and continued her way towards Trenton. 

**End of Chapter 6**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**.

** Rosewood Park**.

Hannah and Aria waited for Spencer to step out of her car and then rushed towards her. Hannah pulled Spencer in close, "Do you think it's true? Could Alison really be alive?"

"I don't know." Spencer said with a head shrug, "They found a body. How could they get that wrong?"

"Yes, but Emily would know Alison's voice and if she talked to her then I have to believe she's alive." Aria said.

"Well, what's going to happen if she is alive? Was she kidnapped for all this time? Did she leave on her own?" Hannah asked in rapid succession, "I don't even know what to think or how to feel right now. I was just starting to get used to life without Alison."

"I know." Aria nodded, "I'm not sure I can go back to how things were before."

"We don't have to do anything." Spencer said, always the voice of reason, "If Alison made this happen then she's got so much explaining to do. Either way, we've all moved on and as happy as I am that she's alive, it doesn't mean we have to become her little minions anymore. I'm done with that."

"That's easy for you to say, you were never really under her spell like we all were." Hannah said with a guilty smile.

"You don't know the whole story." Spencer said with more than a hint of guilt in her voice.

Both Aria and Hannah picked up on it, with Hannah spinning Spencer around, "Just what does that mean?"

"It means I did some things that I wish I could take back. In spite of my best efforts to stay immune to Alison's charms, I gave in one day and I'll never forgive myself for it"

"Gave in? As in had sex with her?" Hannah asked with a slight smile.

"It's not funny." Spencer scolded, "I knew she liked Emily and we all knew Emily had a crush on Alison, so it was so wrong of me to let my emotions get the better of me. I saw how upset Emily was when she had to admit that she was in love with Alison, I knew that and I should have just left Alison's house that day when I had the chance and I had many chances to leave."

Hannah quickly moved over and put her arm around Spencer, "You can't beat yourself up over this. Alison is very hard to resist. We all know that." Hannah said, looking at her two friends knowing they knew exactly what she was talking about, "She's so persuasive and so sexy and well, I don't blame you for what you did. You feel bad about is so that shows you have a heart."

"Thanks for trying to help, but I wonder if it's not better for Emily to know the truth. Do you think she could be happy with Alison?" Spencer asked her two friends, but as they looked at each other trying to come up with an answer, she came up with another question, "Actually a better question is whether Alison is capable of being happy or in love."

As Hannah and Aria smiled at Spencer's question, a car pulled up behind Spencer's. They all stopped to watch as their English teacher stepped out of the car and walked over to them, "Hello girls."

Hannah didn't even try to hide her anger, she stepped forward and slapped her teacher across the face, "How could you? She's your student. What kind of sick pervert are you?"

Mr. Fitz grabbed his cheek and smiled at Hannah, "I can see Aria has filled your head with more of her delusional lies. Oh Aria, I thought we talked about this. You can't go around lying about people or you going to hurt someone."

"I didn't lie." Aria said, confused by her teachers response.

Ezra smiled, "Of course you lied, just like you lied the day I told you I didn't feel anything for you and that I was your teacher and it was very inappropriate for us to be together like you wanted."

"He's lying. That's not what happened." Aria said, all but pleading with her friends to believe her.

"Listen, I understand how things work with young girls. You have a fantasy in your head and you try and make it come true and when it doesn't, you need someone to blame. You need to save face, so you make things up. You tell your friends lies to make things seem more than they were. The truth is we did kiss, before I knew she was my student, but the moment I found out she was in my class, I was mortified. It's just not the kind of thing I'm interested in. I have a girlfriend, a very beautiful, very adult woman whom I love very much." Mr. Fitz lost his trademark smile as he went for a more serious look as he stared directly at Aria, "I'm sorry to be blunt, but you're a just a child to me and clearly you are very immature and even if you were older I still wouldn't be interested in you."

Hannah put her arms around Aria and gave her teacher a nasty look, "You are worse than I thought. I know Aria is telling the truth and if you had your way she'd be in your bed right now you pig. I'm going to make sure that everyone school knows what you did."

"You can do whatever you like Hannah, but it's probably best if you just take Aria home and get her the help she needs. I can recommend a number of quality therapists that can help with her delusions. It's a common problem with young girls, so don't feel like it's anything to be ashamed of." Ezra finished insulting Aria politely and then turned towards Spencer, "Anyway, I'm actually here to speak to Emily, do you know where she is?"

"You sick son of a bitch." Hannah yelled. She pulled her hand back and swung it at her teacher, but this time he was ready and grabbed her arm with his hand, squeezing it much tighter than he had to, "Let go of me. You're hurting me."

Spencer jumped in with both hands and managed to pry his hand away from Hannah's. She stepped in front of her two friends and stared at her teacher, "You shouldn't put your hands on a girl like that, certainly not one of your students. Hannah had the right idea, you do deserve to be slapped, but I think we'll let the police handle that. We wouldn't tell you where Emily was if you paid us."

"I apologize Hannah. I shouldn't have grabbed you like that." Ezra said as sincerely as he was capable of, "This has all been a big misunderstanding, but I really need to talk to Emily. It's very important, so please just tell me where she is."

"You have no reason to talk Emily." Hannah said, still rubbing her arm where he grabbed her.

"I do have a reason to talk to her. She's entered in the school play and I'm directing it and she wanted me to give her the revised screenplay, so unless you want her to fail you'll help me out."

Aria stepped forward, "Give us the stupid thing and we'll give it to her."

Ezra knew he'd made a mess of things and he began smiling again, "Okay, I will wait to hear from her, because it's important she know her lines by Tuesday. That's our first rehearsal. You girls stay out of trouble now. I sure wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you."

After they watched their teacher drive away, they all looked at each other as if they'd been watching a bizarre dream unfold. Aria looked at her two friends and then made very good eye contact with Hannah, "You believe me right? I wouldn't lie about what happened."

"Of course I believe you." Hannah said, wrapping her arms around Aria and giving her a big warm hug, "That guy is just creepy. Why was he acting so weird? It's not like he knew you were a student before, why not just call it a mistake and move on?"

"I don't know." Aria shrugged, "He didn't want to end things, but that would've been an easy way to get out of this. Now he's lied and I didn't even recognize him the way he was smiling and making things up like that. What is he going to do in school though? He could make us all fail."

"No." Spencer said firmly, "He's not going to do anything. He needs to be removed from class. It's not right from him to be a teacher when he wants to be screwing his students."

"Aria's right." Hannah agreed, "Something was very weird about him. So why do you think he wants to talk to Emily?"

Spencer's eyes lit up, "Emily just told us about Alison being alive and then we have a visit from the teacher needing to talk to her. Do you think that's really just a coincidence?"

"How could he have anything to do with Alison? She's not really into guys is she?" Aria asked, looking at her two friends before continuing, "She wasn't even here before the new year started, so how would they know each other?"

"That's true." Hannah agreed, "Anyway, what should we do about Emily? I hate the idea of her being alone with Alison. We know how smooth Alison is, she'll have Emily eating out of hand in no time."

"We can't control how Emily feels." Spencer said, "I don't think Emily was very happy with Alison before she disappeared. Maybe she has her own issues with Alison."

"Well, if Alison is alive then I think Emily will be happy. I'm happy she's alive. I know she liked to control us, but she was fun sometimes, right?" Hannah asked, hoping she wasn't alone in her thinking.

"No, it wasn't all bad, but do you want to go back to that? Do you want to spend your life following Alison around forever? Doing whatever she says, listening to her passive aggressive insults." Aria questioned, looking more at Hannah than Spencer, "I don't think I want that anymore."

"Is it really fair to just desert her? We don't even know what happened to her. Aren't you curious about that?" Hannah asked.

Aria nodded her agreement, "Sure, but even if we could be friends with her, we don't have to give her the power she had before."

"Did we really give it to her, or did she just take it? I think she's just very good at getting what she wants." Spencer said, knowing she was right.

"So you think we can't resist her? Come on, we're better than that aren't we?" Aria asked, smiling at the thought they couldn't break free of their manipulative friend, "I feel so different compared to how I did even a year ago. I don't think she could control me anymore." Aria put her hand around Hannah's waist and smiled up at her, "I don't want to do her sex games now, I'm happy with you and that's all I want."

"Me to, but I guess I'm a little afraid of falling under her spell again." Hannah said, not sounding nearly as confident as Aria, "She knows my weaknesses so well, I mean she points them out to me all the time, but right after she'll say something really nice to me and I'll feel good again and she did help me lose weight so she's not all bad."

"No, she's not, but we aren't the same people we were a year ago and I for one like this new life we've got going and I don't see Alison fitting into it, she likes to be in control too much." Aria sighed, "Do you think she could just be a regular girl?"

"I don't know, but shouldn't we at least find out?" Hannah said,

Aria smiled, "You do have a soft spot for her don't you?"

"Not like that." Hannah said with a laugh, "But, you know she's a lot of fun to be around. Not when she's being a bitch, but she's funny and she can be very nice and I just think we should give her a chance to see if she's willing to be friends with us and not need to be the leader all the time."

Spencer smiled at her two friends sharing a laugh and a hug after seeing them so tense just a few days ago, "So if Alison is alive, do you think she's A?"

"I have no idea, but hope not. That would be really cruel." Aria said. She thought about it for a moment and then shook her head, "No, Alison wouldn't do that. She's more likely to tell you things to your face than behind your back. If it's not her, we still don't know who it is."

Spencer looked at her watch and then back at her friends, "I have to go. I'm supposed to meet Melissa for dinner tonight. She wants to talk about Alison for some reason."

"What? She knows Alison to?" Aria asked, "Alison sure gets around doesn't she."

"I don't really want to talk about that." Spencer said, not liking the fact she was hiding the truth from her friends.

Hannah wasn't convinced by Spencer's denials, "We all know that Alison gets what she wants, so if she wanted Melissa, then who's to say she didn't have her?"

"I need to go now and I'll talk to you guys tomorrow." Spencer said, cringing at the knowledge that her sister was one of Alison's conquests.

**Smooth's Eatery. Trenton, Pennslyvania**.

Emily pulled up in front of the diner, looked around briefly and then got out of her car. She walked around behind the diner, looked around a bit more and was just about to turn around when Alison rushed up and wrapped her arms around her.

In spite of all the anger she was feeling, Emily couldn't help but enjoy Alison hugging her so tightly, but after a few moments she pulled away and took a long hard look at Alison, "I can't believe it's really you."

Alison smiled widely, "Well, here I am. In the flesh."

"How can you smile right now? Do you have any idea what kind of pain you've caused to so many people?"

"Let's not get into that right now, okay?" Alison said. She moved in close to Emily again, trying her best to stay serious, "I had no idea this would go on for so long. When I decided to leave I didn't plan on faking my death. I didn't. I just needed to get away."

"Well, that's not what happened."

"I know that, but I knew I couldn't do this alone, so I had some people help me out. I don't want to say their names because it was my idea." Alison took Emily by the hand and led her away from the diner and began walking towards the hills in the distance, "I was going through some really bad things at the time and I just needed to escape. Once I realized I couldn't get the space I needed at home, I was going to run away, but that's when I talked to a friend and we came up with this idea. It was mostly my idea, but she was more than happy to help out."

"I don't need to hear why. Do think that matters now? Whatever the truth is, I don't expect it to come from your pretty little lips, so save it. I don't believe a word you say and I never will again."

"Emily. Stop it." Alison demanded. "I know you're upset, but why are you acting like you hate me? I don't believe that? What else is going on here?"

Emily hesitated for a moment, but the thought of Alison with Spencer caused her to lose her normally passive demeanor, "Fine, you want to know what's going on? I saw you with Spencer. I have no idea why I ever loved you, but that's over now. You tell me you love me and say I'm special and then you sleep with our best friend? Someone you never really liked and who sure didn't like you. You just had to have her right? You have to be with everyone don't you? Who didn't you sleep with?"

Alison ignored the insults and calmly focused on what she really wanted to know, "Did she tell you?"

"No she didn't have to because I was there!" Emily yelled at the top of her lungs, finally letting out some of the anger that she'd kept bottled up for so long. "I saw it with my own eyes. I heard the whole conversation. I saw firsthand what a lying witch you are. That's why I wrote that letter to you. I felt bad when I thought you were dead, but now I can see that I was only wrong to feel bad in the first place."

"Okay, this makes more sense now. I have no excuses for what I did. I'm not a very nice person sometimes." Alison said softly, but as she saw Emily rolling her eyes, she corrected herself, "Okay, I'm not a very nice person most of the time, but when I told you that you were special I meant it. I'll take a lie detector on anything I ever told you when it comes to us. I know I screwed up, but I don't know how to do this. I don't do relationships. I can't control things when I'm with you. I feel like I'm losing myself, but that's not bad, I just thought it was. What I'm trying to say is that I loved you then and I still love you now. Nothing will ever change that. Please believe me."

"No. It's too late. I told you, I've moved on. I met someone else, someone who's sweet, caring and honest." Emily cringed after saying it, remembering Maya's surprise girlfriend, "Anyway, I will drive you back to town, drop you off at the police station and let you explain your little game to them. After that, I don't want to see or hear from again."

"This is not the Emily I know." Alison said, looking Emily over slowly, "You sound so much like me right now and I don't like it. You are sweet and caring and forgiving. I need you to forgive me. I can't do this without you. If you are cutting me out then I'm not coming back. I have no reason to."

"Alison, you have to tell everyone you're alive. I will, so you can't really stay dead anymore."

"That's where you're wrong." Alison smiled, reached out, took Emily's purse and grabbed her cell phone, "I just don't want you taking any pictures of me. I'll send it to you later I guess. I really had no idea you had so much anger inside of you. I'm really sorry I'm the cause of it."

"Give me my phone." Emily said, lunging forward, taking a swipe at Alison's hand in the process.

Alison backed off and shook her head at Emily, "So that's it huh? You really have no feelings for me at all? I just can't believe that. Why can't you just accept my apology? I promise I will make it up to you. How can I earn your trust back if you don't give me a chance? Do you want me gone? Would you really be happier if you never saw me again for the rest of your life?"

"Don't make this about me. I didn't do this, you did." Emily said, relaxing her posture ever so slightly, "I hated when you did the sex games, because I hated sharing you with anyone. I love Aria and Hannah, but seeing them with you, even just for your own warped fantasy made me ill. I kept telling myself it was just a game, it was just for fun and you really loved me. That changed when I saw you with Spencer and that's what I can't forgive you for. To think you were with her sister to? You're evil or sick or both."

"Guilty as charged." Alison said, holding up her hand to acknowledge her crime, "I can be evil and maybe a little sick, but that isn't who I really am. That's the Alison that has to be in control. That's the Alison that has to win. She has to be bitchy to get her way. I'm not like that normally, you've seen the other side of me. The times when we were together were the best times of my life, because for that moment in time I didn't have to be bitchy Alison. I didn't want to be in control with you, I just wanted to be with you. You know this. I can apologize for everything I've ever done, but it can't change that I did those things. I just want a second chance. You can still hate me if you don't believe I'm changing, but please give me a chance to make this up to you."

"You are so smooth." Emily said, letting out an annoyed smile, "I almost fell back under your spell for a second, but I won't do that again. I even forgave you when I thought you were dead. I didn't want to hang onto those feelings, but somehow seeing you again just brings them all back. All the hurt and the pain I went through seeing you with Spencer and then the thought of you being killed just filled me so many different emotions, but I feel only one thing right now and that's relief. Relief that I'm over you."

"No you're not." Alison argued, "You're angry with me and you kind of remind of me when you get mad, which is not a good thing, but I deserve it all, so go for it. Let it all out, but tell me one thing and I hope you can be honest with me here, because whatever you say right now I will do. Do you want me to be out of your life forever? Try and put your anger aside and answer that for me."

"I don't care if you come back to Rosewood, it won't matter. I could see you every day and I'd feel the same way. I'm not sure what you want to hear, but we are over as friends and as anything else we might've been."

"WOW, you are so cold right now. I hardly recognize you. Is that how I look to you?" Alison asked, more than a little puzzled by Emily's lack of emotion.

"I learned from the best."

"Maybe you learned a little too much, but it doesn't look good on you. I don't like seeing you like this. I love your smile and I wonder if it's gone forever to. Did I change you into this angry, vengeful bitch?"

"Oh right, I'm the bitch?" Emily asked with a stunned disbelieving smile, "God you have such a warped way of looking at things. Did you think I should drop to my knees and worship the ground you walk on? I'm sure you did. I'm sure you thought you'd flash your pretty smile and I'd turn to mush like I used to, but I got a lot stronger in the last year and I won't be your little puppet anymore."

"You never were. You were the only real part of my life." Alison said, doing her best to move closer to Emily, "The rest was just a game, but with you, I felt so different. I felt alive. I know you don't want to hear this, but you need to know that what I felt for you was the best feeling I'd ever felt in my life. Sure I messed it all up, but that's because I suck at being normal. I don't know why I do the things I do, but if you believe one thing believe that you made me a better person. You know I was different when it's was just the two of us. Think back to those days and nights we spent together. The fun we had. That was real. I was real then. I hate that I change when I'm around other people, but it doesn't have to be that way. If I was with you I could be a better person, you know that."

"I don't know that. I wish I could believe you, but this conversation is over. Are you coming back or not?"

"I'll come back, but I'm not just going to disappear. I'll show you that I can be different and I know that once some time has passed you'll see that you still have feelings for me and when you do, I'll be there waiting."

"Think what you want." Emily said with an eye roll, "You're going to have your hands full explaining to the cops that you faked your own death. I bet that's a crime to, so you might just be heading off to prison."

"Nope. That's not going to happen." Alison said as confidently as ever, "I said I'd change, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to go to jail. I have a feeling that when I'm done talking to the police they'll understand what happened and this will all be behind us."

"Just get in the car." Emily ordered as she slid into the driver's seat.

Feeling like she'd made a tiny bit of progress, Alison hopped into the passenger seat and held in her smile as she looked over at Emily, knowing that all wasn't lost after all. 

**End of Chapter 7.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**.

**Rosewood Park**.

Mona stood on the sidewalk, checking her watch every few minutes, looking up at the sky hoping she didn't get caught in the rainstorm that was forming above her. She let out a relieved sigh as a car drove up and stopped in front of her. She opened the door and got into the passenger side, "I've been waiting almost 30 minutes."

"Be lucky I showed up at all. Why didn't you keep Alison on the phone when were talking to her? You should've called me with one of your 5 other cell phones."

"Well Ezra, I wasn't thinking then." Mona said, keeping her distance from her temperamental teacher, "Alison was making a lot of threats and she can be pretty intimidating, but I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"Is that so?" Ezra said with a laugh, "That's because you don't have as much invested in this little plan as I do. I haven't achieved anything yet. Alison is still here, she can still cause problems for me and I have yet to exact my revenge on that little bitch."

"You need to listen to Lucas and let this go. Alison isn't worth it."

"That's where you're wrong. If she comes back here she's going to tell everyone I was hitting on her and she knows about me and that other girl from Colonial High that I was with. She has to be stopped."

"You can't be talking about killing her?" Mona asked softly, "Come on, she didn't do anything to you. Do you really think anyone even noticed that she turned you down? You aren't the center of the universe Ezra. Think about this. Right now she might be able to embarrass you a little, but if you kill her there's no going back from that. She might be gone but you'll be in jail forever, if not the electric chair."

"Are you saying you care about me Mona?" Ezra asked with another strange laugh, "If Alison comes back she's going to have the police looking into my life with a fine tooth comb and I am not prepared for that. I'm not about to go jail. I'm sure you know what that would mean for me in prison. That is not happening. I just got this job and I kind of like it here, so that's why I need your help."

"No. No way. I am not getting involved in a murder. Are you crazy?" Mona asked bluntly, but quickly regretted her choice of words as Ezra glared back at her.

"If I didn't need your help I would really be quite angry right now." Ezra said with a cold blank expression, "Now, you told me that Alison might be willing to keep you in her inner circle once she returns, that could prove invaluable to me. I need to know what she's doing and who she's doing it with so I can find the perfect opportunity to do what should've been done a year ago."

"Are you going to kill me I don't help? You have to know you can't get away with murder. Not now. I just can't do this. I don't like Alison, but I don't want her dead. That's just sick."

"I don't remember when I said you had a choice."

"I'm not a brave person, I just can't do this. If you have to kill me then go ahead." Mona said, closing her eyes and lowering her head, "Not like I have much to live for anyway, I doubt Alison would ever keep her word, so I'd be back with the losers and that's not what I want."

"Oh god, would you stop the martyr routine. I'm not going to kill you for god sakes." Ezra said, rolling his eyes at Mona. "I thought you might respond better to threats, but I can see I was wrong. Okay, how about you help me get something on Alison that would keep her mouth shut. If she doesn't talk about that girl, then I'll drop this for now?"

Relieved at Ezra's change of tune, Mona put her perky smile back on her face, "I know some things about her, but I don't know if any of them are illegal."

"Let me decide what's useful and what's not. Just get talking."

**Spencer's Home**.

Spencer walked into the kitchen and almost fell over at the sight of her dad talking to Jenna and Ian at the same time. She moved towards the kitchen table, stopping beside her dad, "Hi, I didn't know you were home."

Her dad gave her a hug and smiled, "I just got in a few minutes ago. Jenna and Ian were talking outside when I showed up, so I let them in."

"Well, that's great. Where's Melissa?"

"She's on her way, she had to stop for something." Ian said with a smile. He looked Spencer over from head to toe, like he always did when she walked in the room, finally looking her in the eyes when he was finished, "So, how are things going. You look good."

"Things are great." Spencer said. She quickly turned her attention to Jenna, "Hi Jenna, are you here to see Melissa?"

"No, actually I came to see you. Could we go somewhere, it's just girl talk and I'm sure Ian your dad don't want any part of that."

"Sure." Spencer said, not sure what to make of Jenna's request. She walked over and helped Jenna to her feet, "Hang on and I'll lead the way."

Jenna took Spencer's arm and followed her out of the kitchen and up the stairs and into her bedroom. Once inside, Jenna pulled off her glasses and put her cane up against the wall, "It's been a while since we've had a chance to talk and I think it's time we changed that."

"Why did you take your glasses off?"

Smiling as she moved towards Spencer, Jenna put her hand up towards Spencer's face and put her finger on her nose, "As you can see, some things have changed for me and I couldn't wait to come share it with you."

"OMG, you can see." Spencer said, falling back on her bed as she stared up at Jenna with a stunned look on her face.

"Yes, the miracles of modern medicine never cease to amaze me." Jenna smiled and slid in beside Spencer on her bed, "You don't have to look so scared, this is good news. It's a time to celebrate and that's why I want you to call your friends and have them come over so we can do this properly."

"Jenna, I don't know what your game is, but I'm not doing anything until you tell me what's going on."

"I think it's quite obvious isn't it? I'm happy and I think it's time we buried the hatchet and moved on with our lives. Is that so bad?" Jenna asked with a strange smile.

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Maybe because you're conscience won't let you." Jenna snarled, her smile fading ever so slightly, "I've spent a year without sight, do you know what that's like? It's hell. Having to learn how to walk with that stupid cane, how to eat without spilling food all over myself, how to wash my face, how to shower, how to dress. Nothing was easy, it was horrible and you caused it. You and your annoying little friends."

"We've apologized a million times for this. You know it was Alison who did it and yet you were friends with her until the end, so why don't you tell me about that?"

"Alison had the decency to come to the hospital and see how I was doing. She was filled with remorse and regret and I accepted her apology. But you four didn't show up at all. You didn't care what happened to me. That I can't get past."

"That's not how it was. Alison told us not to go." Spencer said, stunned at what Alison had done, again, "She said it would make us look guilty. She was adamant about it and you know Alison gets her way."

"You people have minds of your own, if you cared about me at all you would've come visit. You would've apologized in person. That's all I wanted. But nooooo, not Spencer, she's too good for that, well what you're probably learning is that there are consequences to your actions and I'm here to show you what they are."

Spencer got up from her bed and ran to towards the bedroom door, she ran into the hallway and called out her dad's name. She called it again and again but there was no answer.

Jenna followed Spencer into the hallway, "Well look at that, it seems Ian has taken your dad for a drive. I guess we're all alone again. Now, where were we?"

"Don't be stupid Jenna." Spencer said as she backed down the stairs, "Just tell me what you want."

"What I want I can't have, but I'll settle for another kind of payback." Jenna slowly walked down the stairs, smiling at Spencer as she closed in on her, "Have you ever thought of death? If you could pick a way to die, what would you choose? Wait, don't answer just yet, let me guess what the perfect little daughter would pick. Hmmm, you love sports, so maybe sky diving would be the way to go for you. Just imagine it for a second, you're up in a plane, 20,000 feet in the air and you look down and everything look so small, but you feel so free, so alive and when you jump it's the most amazing feeling in the world as you start to fall and then you reach back and, oh wait, you're parachute is gone, omg, you are freefalling now and the speed of your fall is increasing every second and soon you are travelling a speed you can barely stand. It's getting harder to breathe as you fall at such a rapid pace and the world below is getting bigger and bigger as you get closer and closer to slamming into the ground at unheard of speed. Finally, you are getting closer and closer to the ground and you know it's almost over, but first, there will be the excruciating pain of the contact of your body against the road, the rock hard cement road that you will literally put a hole through as your descent finally comes to an end."

"That's just sick. What the hell is wrong with you." Spencer said, shaking her head at Jenna's little death scenario.

"Oh Spencer, I'm just fine, but thanks for your concern." Jenna said with a cute smile, "I actually enjoyed the vision of you falling to your death. Does that make me a bad person? Or just someone who's looked forward to revenge for so long."

"Murder? That's what you call revenge for an accident? You are crazy."

"I didn't say anything about murder. Where do get such things?" Jenna laughed, "I was just visualizing one of the million ways there are to die. Contrary to your very paranoid beliefs, I'm not going to kill you. I'm not going to touch you at all because you make me sick, but I hope every time you see me from now you think of the parachute not opening and what it would feel like to fall for so long knowing that you're going to die and not being able to do a thing about it. Anyway, do you know where Aria, Hannah and Emily are? I really need to talk to them."

Spencer reached out and grabbed Jenna by the arm, squeezing it tight as she moved in and glared into her eyes, "You are not going to go near them. Do you hear me? You had your fun just now, but that's it. We've done everything we could to try and make up for what happened to you and maybe we shouldn't have listened to Alison, but that doesn't make us bad people. You are not going to torture us anymore. Just seeing what your mind is capable of gives me the creeps. You and Toby really do deserve each other."

Jenna pulled her arm free and slapped Spencer across the face, "Don't you talk about him like that. I am not on trial here, so stop trying to turn this around. It's nice of you to stand up for your friends, but I have something special planned for each of them, so if you'll excuse me, I'm done here."

"No you're not." Spencer said, once again grabbing onto Jenna's arm, "I'm going to ask you nicely, what will it take for you to leave them alone? Just tell me."

"Are you trying to buy me off? You think I want money? You really don't get what I went through do you? I don't think there's anything you could offer me that would keep from doing what I have every right to do."

"Nobody has a right to scare someone else or make their life a living hell. So, I guess Alison finally paid for her part in all this huh?"

"I did not kill her." Jenna yelled. She growled as she thought about the night that caused her so much pain, "Oh I hated her for a long time, but when she was at the hospital, she was a different person. She was real. She looked so sad and I felt her regret and the last time I saw her she was smiling and happy. You can't pin that on me."

"Well, I don't think the police know what Alison did to you. You never told anyone what happened did you? So I have to believe that they might see that as a very good motive for murder." Spencer said she smiled at Jenna.

"Don't you dare." Jenna yelled.

"Leave my friends alone and I'll drop this. You know my mom's a lawyer and the one thing she always tells me is that the truth doesn't matter, it's what you can make the jury believe that does. I bet a jury would have no problem believing someone as crazy as you is capable of murder."

"There's no way they'd believe that. I was blind then."

"Again, you have the best motive and you do have access to a flunky in Toby, so either way, I'm sure the police could make your life a living hell for a while to. Who knows, if they dig hard enough they might even find some evidence of yours lying around. The question is, do you want to take that chance? Life in prison is a pretty long time and look at you, you've got your sight back and you have your whole life ahead of you, but what if it was spent in a tiny little cell with a very scary cellmate?"

Grinding her teeth hard, Jenna stomped her foot on the ground, "Fine. I'll leave them alone, for now, but I'm not done. Sooner or later they will find the real killer and then it's on again. Remember that."

Spencer gave Jenna a sneer and pushed her towards the door, "Have a nice day." She turned around, ran back upstairs, into her bedroom and picked up her cell phone. She pushed Aria's number and paced around the room while she waited for a reply.

After a handful of rings Spencer was about to hang up when Aria finally picked up, "Hi." She said in between long deep breaths.

"Jenna was just here and I think things are about to hit the fan."

A minute or so went by before Aria finally mumbled, "oh, that's not good"

"Are you doing something? You don't seem to be taking this very seriously. What's going on?"

In the background Spencer heard Hannah's voice, "Hang up now."

"Can I call you back?"

"Is that Hannah with you?"

"Yes, she's here, but we're kind of in the middle of something."

"Oh god, oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know. Never mind. I'll talk to you later." Spencer hung up the phone and then fell back on her bed laughing.

Aria tossed her cell phone to the ground and looked down at Hannah who was frowning up at her from between her legs, "I had to answer, it could've been an emergency."

Hannah crawled up Aria's naked body and kissed her on the lips, "So, what did she have to say?"

"Just something about Jenna being over there and now she thinks things could get worse."

"What? Why?"

"I didn't get a chance to ask her, someone was yelling for me to hang up remember?" Aria said with a cute grin.

Hannah smiled and rolled on top of the pretty brunette, "Well, this was our first chance to be together in a while and I didn't want it to end."

"It's not going to end." Aria said, reassuring Hannah with a long sensual kiss, as both girls rolled around on the small bed, not wanting to ever let go of each other.

A knock at Aria's door did what time wasn't about to do, it pulled the two girls apart. Aria sat up in the bed, "Who is it?"

"It's your dad. Is Hannah in there with you, because her mother is on the phone."

"Um, yes. She'll be down in a second. We're just finishing up some homework." Aria slid out of bed and began searching for her clothes that were scattered all over the floor with Hannah's.

Hannah joined her on the floor as they quickly got dressed. They kissed again briefly before leaving the friendly confines of Aria's bedroom to deal with real life once again. Mr. Montgomery handed the phone to Hannah as she entered the living room. She smiled and walked out into the hallway before she said anything, "Hi, what's going on?"

"I just got some very upsetting pictures sent to me and you had better explain yourself young lady."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"This isn't something we want to be discussing on the phone." Hannah's mother said firmly, "Let's just say you and your friend Alison are in these pictures and you don't have any clothes on. Is that enough to get your attention?"

Hannah turned a ghostly shade of white, "OMG, it's not what it looks like. Are you at home?"

"No, I'm at work, but I'm going home right now because we need to talk about this."

"Okay, I'll be there soon." Hannah turned off the phone and walked back into the living room, "I have to go. I'll call you later."

Aria followed Hannah towards the front door, opening for her and stepping outside with her, "What's got you in such a hurry?"

"Someone sent my mom pictures of me and Alison, naked." Hannah whispered softly, "I can't believe they would do this. That's going too far. Whoever this is we need to stop them or the whole world is going to be seeing movies of the five of us doing things that really should be private."

Before Aria could reply her dad came storming towards her, "We need to talk this minute."

Hannah had a pretty good idea of what her dad was upset about, so she gave Aria a brief hug and ran to her car.

Aria closed the door and looked at her dad, "What's wrong?"

"I just had some very disturbing pictures sent to me and I have no idea what to do or say to you right now. I'm just so disappointed. Your mother is on her way over and then the three of us are going to have a very long talk. I wouldn't make any plans for the next few months because I don't think you're going to be leaving this house for a very long time."

**End of Chapter 8.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**.

** Rosewood city limits**.

Emily pulled into the city and immediately pulled over to the curb, "Okay, where to? Do you want to go home or to the police station?"

Alison just smiled and shook her head, "I don't want to go anywhere. I want to talk to you. I can't believe you spent the whole trip silent. That's not really very mature you know."

"I asked you a question." Emily said, trying to ignore Alison's adorable smile, "Either answer or me or I'll drop you off here and you can walk the rest of the way."

"Would you stop the bitch act, because that's not you. I said I was sorry. I know it's not enough, but I can't make it up to you if you keep acting this way."

"I don't want you to. You can do whatever you want now. You can go pretend you're dead again if that's what turns you on, but I don't care. Now, where do you want to go?"

"Fine, I'll go home for now." Alison answered, knowing it was the only way to keep things moving, "I need to talk to Mona and Lucas first, because we need to get our stories straight before I go to the police."

"Why would you trust them? I don't get it. Mona never liked you and Lucas hated for you what you did to him every day, so how did they become your friends of all a sudden?"

"Friends?" Alison laughed, "No, they both wanted me dead, so I convinced them that this was a good way to revenge, you know, without actually killing me for real. They got rid of me and I got to disappear. I just never thought it through very well."

"That's pretty clear." Emily said, almost smiling at Alison's predicament, "Anyway, I'm seeing someone now, so please just leave me alone and we won't have any problems."

"I can't do that. I don't give up Emily, you know that." Alison said, doing her best to make eye contact with Emily, "I've owned my mistakes and I'll pay for them for the rest of my life, but I will make you change your mind about me. You know I'm not all bad. You saw the good in me so I'm asking you to see it again."

"Stop doing that." Emily snapped as she caught Alison smiling at her seductively, "You can't seduce your way of this. I'm not the same Emily who used to fawn all over you. That is the past. I see you for who you are and I don't like person one bit."

Alison smiled and nodded, "Okay, that's something, so I will take it and prove to you that we are meant to be together."

"I didn't say we would ever get together, so you can stop thinking that right now."

"Oh Emily, you can't control what I think, nobody can." Alison said with a calm, confident smile, "You don't have to believe it, but I know it. I just have to become the person I was when we were together, because I know you loved her."

"Stop it." Emily yelled, refusing to look at Alison, "I don't want to talk about this. Where to?"

"You sure have a lot of anger in you. I told you I'd go home, so I'm ready if you are."

Emily didn't say a word, she just slammed her foot on the gas and tore off down the street, looking straight ahead and ignoring Alison for as long as she could.

**Rosewood High School**.

Lucas walked into Mr. Fitz's room, closed the door and stood in front of his step brother, "What did you find out from Mona?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Ezra said, turning in his chair to face Lucas, "Suffice it say, I have enough information about Alison to make sure she keeps quiet."

"That's good." Lucas said with a relieved nod, "Is there any way you can get Aria back? I hate her being with Hannah. I really hate it."

"What? What do you mean with Hannah?"

"I mean they are like a couple. They have sex and are in love."

Ezra laughed, "That's ridiculous. Aria is not into girls. She was all over me and if things hadn't gotten messed up she would've been in my bed by now."

"You're wrong, because I just saw them together in Aria's bed having sex." Lucas stated boldly, "Through it all they must've said I love you a hundred times, so whatever you think you had with her, it didn't seem to have the same affect on her."

"You watch your mouth Lucas, we may be related but that doesn't mean I have to listen to your insults."Ezra stepped away from Lucas just before he let his temper get the better of him, his scowl turning into a smile in a matter of seconds, "This might actually work for us. If you were close enough to watch them have sex I'm guessing you have some pictures to prove it?"

"Of course I do." Lucas said with a proud smile. He handed Ezra is phone with the first picture of Hannah and Aria kissing staring him right in the face.

"That is perfect." Ezra said, grabbing the cell phone from Lucas, "Well, I'll be damned. I just never got that vibe from her. Oh well, it's probably just a phase, but I kind of overstepped my bounds with the girls and I need something to keep them in line and this should do quite nicely."

"That's not enough. I want them broken up." Lucas yelled, exhibiting the same temper that Ezra was famous for, "I've spent a lot of time trying to get close to Hannah and I'm not going to lose her to some girl. It was bad enough she was with Sean, but he's so dumb he put himself out of the picture, but I was supposed to be in bed with her not Aria. You need to get her out of the way, work that so called charm of yours on her again."

"It's too late for that." Ezra said with a sigh, "I raised my voice with them because of this Alison mess and I saw the way Aria looked at me, it wasn't good. Just let it run its course, they aren't going to be together for long. Just keep hanging around Hannah and eventually she'll let you in."

"That's easy for you to say." Lucas groaned, "Are you sure we can't get into trouble for helping Alison fake her death? Isn't that a crime?"

"Probably, but that's not what happened. Alison needed to get away and the police assumed she was dead. They assumed that body was Alison's and that's their mistake. All she did was leave without telling anyone."

Lucas gave Ezra a perplexed look, "What are you talking about? We helped make it look like that body was Alison's. We put the bracelet on the corpse. You paid off the medical examiner to lie about the dental records."

"Well, nobody can prove we put the bracelet on the corpse." Ezra said calmly, "The medical examiner no longer works here. He's retired and living the good life in Barbados, the last thing he wants is to go down with us and he would for doing all this stuff, so don't worry about that. This will all blow over in a few weeks. Trust me."

"I don't have much choice." Lucas growled as he walked towards the door, "Oh, Jenna was looking for you. How do you know her?"

"I know a lot of pretty girls. She's just another student in the school, so again, I wouldn't worry about it. She doesn't know we're related, but she shouldn't be asking anyone where I am, so I'm going to have to talk to her about that."

"How well do you know her? She's not exactly stable you know."

"Who is these days?" Ezra said with a laugh. He put his arm around Lucas's neck and led him towards the door, "Just go home and call Hannah, make sure you don't let her forget you. Do not let her see you upset or you'll never have a chance with her. That goes for Aria to, be nice to her. Don't give Hannah any reason to turn on you."

"I'll try, but it's not going to be fun." Lucas said, but Ezra had closed the door on him before he'd finished talking, leaving him frustrated and alone yet again.

** Aria's home**.

Aria walked into the living room to see her mom and dad standing waiting for her. She took a deep breath and walked up to them, "I can explain."

"Really? You can explain why naked pictures of you and Alison are being sent to us? She's dead. There's a murder investigation going on and we got this note with the pictures." Her mother handed Aria a piece of a paper.

Almost afraid to open it, Aria finally lowered her head and began to read, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery, I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but you're daughter is a murderer. She killed Alison because she rejected her. Here's some proof that they were in fact together. I'm sorry for the explicit nature of the pictures, but you need to know what kind of slut your daughter is, but what's worse, is she's a murdering slut. Your truly, A."

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" Mr. Montgomery asked loudly.

"You can't possibly believe I killed Alison? Just for the record, I didn't and never would, but she's not dead. Soon everyone will know that."

"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Montgomery asked.

"It's a long story, but I have it on good authority that Alison is alive. That's all I know. I still wouldn't kill anyone."

"Then I guess you can explain these pictures and my goodness Aria, there are a lot of them." Mrs. Montgomery said, dumping an envelope worth of pictures onto the coffee table.

Aria's eyes grew wide as she knelt down and flipped through the countless pictures of her and Alison, Hannah, Emily having all kinds of sex. She turned all of the pictures upside down and slowly got to her feet, "Okay, I know this doesn't look good, but we were just fooling around. We're young and curious and even if you don't understand, there's nothing wrong with having sex. Young people do it all the time. We're all the same age, we did it willingly and it's not a crime."

"I thought you told us you were in love with Hannah?" Her mother asked, but kept right on talking, "How is that possible if you are out there doing those things with your other friends? I don't know if I like the idea of you being friends with girls who do that for fun. That's now what sex is supposed to be about."

"Mom, I know this looks horrible and I wish you had never seen those pictures. It's so embarrassing. I'm not proud of what I did, but I'm also not ashamed of it. That part of my life is over and I do love Hannah now and she's the only one I want to be with, so the past doesn't matter now. Whoever sent this is going to pay."

"Now you're sounding like a killer." Her dad said

"I didn't say pay with their lives, god, stop being so silly." Aria said, trying not to laugh at her dad, "But they need to pay somehow, because this was just wrong. Since you know about this person claiming to be A, which is of course short for Alison, you should know that this person has been tormenting us for a year now. Maybe that's what you should be worried about."

Aria's mother continued to shake her head in disbelief, "Just what kind of girls are you hanging out with? I thought your friends were good girls. I'm stunned by these pictures. I don't want you spending time with them anymore. That means Hannah to."

"Mom!" Aria yelled, "I can't believe you're saying that. I would expect this from dad, but not you. My friends are good people. Sure we let Alison talk us into some things, but it's not the end of world. I thought you were the understanding one. What happened?"

"Don't you point your finger me young lady." Mrs. Montgomery said, still fuming at everything she was hearing, "I did not raise you to take part in some kind of sick sex party. You were never like this until you started hanging out with those girls."

"You're overreacting. I told you that part of my life is over. Let it go. God." Aria said, still not understanding her mother's anger, "I'm the one embarrassed here. Do you think I like knowing the world is going to see me like that? That my parents have seen me like that? I just want to hide forever."

"That's good, because you're grounded forever." Mrs. Montgomery said. She then pointed upstairs, "Now go to your room."

"Mom. I'm not a kid anymore."

"To your room now!" Her mom yelled even louder.

Knowing that she was on thin ice, Aria chose not to make things worse and unwillingly marched upstairs and slammed the door to her bedroom and fell onto her bed, wishing she could undo what had just taken place.

**Rosewood Police Station**.

Alison waltzed into the police station with two of her lawyers following closely behind her. She walked up to the main desk, happily smiled at the receptionist, "Hi, I'm Alison DeLaurentis and I believe there's been a misunderstanding about my death. As you can see I'm not dead and I just wanted to clear that up for everyone."

The woman looked at Alison closer, then turned to her left to see the poster of Alison on the far wall and then got to her feet in a flash, "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"That's what I'd like to explain. If I could talk to someone in charge we could straighten this out."

"Stay there. I'll get the detective in charge." The woman rushed into the back of the station, down the hall and knocked on the door of Detective Stan Bertram. After being told to come in, the woman walked up to his desk, "A young woman claiming to be Alison DiLaurentis is at the main desk. I think it's her and she's alive."

Detective Bertram lifted his head from the file on his desk, "Is this a joke?"

"No sir. She's out there now. She says she wants to clear things up."

He got to his feet and marched past the receptionist and walked out into the main office and shook his head when he laid eyes on Alison. He walked around in front of the main desk, "You have a lot of explaining to you Miss DiLaurentis."

"Yes, well, I'm as surprised as anyone that people thought I was dead. I needed to get away and I admit I didn't tell anyone about it, but that's because I wanted to be alone, but I still don't see how that made people think I was dead."

"We had a body of young girl fitting your description turn up with some of your possessions on her and who's dental records matched yours completely. How do you suppose that happened?"

Alison shook her head in mock surprise, "I'm not a police officer, so I wouldn't know how you could make such a horrible mistake, but that has nothing to do with me needing time to myself."

"Dental records don't lie, unless someone was paid to lie about them. So what do you know about that Miss DiLaurentis?"

"Again, I know nothing of this. I've been away and I've had no cell phone, no email, no contact with anyone from Rosewood for almost a year. It was a very helpful time, but I was ready to come home and the minute I got here I heard from everyone around that the police thought I was murdered. I'm astounded at this and just wanted to show you that I'm very much alive, so I hope you find out who that other victim was, because that's the real crime I guess."

"Something doesn't fit Alison. Why did you have to get away for so long?"

"That's a private matter. It's just family issues, friend issues and school issues. I didn't like the person I'd become and I needed to find myself again, so that's why I had to eliminate all contact from my old life in Rosewood. Anyway, I'm really sorry that you jumped to such a conclusion. I do hope that now that I'm back you can get to work that poor girl who you thought was me."

"Well, for now we will be looking into that, but the investigation into what happened with you is not over. If we find out you had anything to do with faking your own death you will be prosecuted. You have a nice day now."

"I always do." Alison said with a big smile. She turned and walked out the station and waited until they were far enough away from anyone before she stopped in her tracks, looking up at her high priced attorney's, "Do I have anything to worry about here?"

"It really depends on the people who knew what your original plan was. If they tell the police what they did, then you are in some serious trouble. While we can't advise you to do anything illegal, it might be wise to look into this and find a solution to the problem before this gets out of hand."

"I'll make sure nothing ever gets out, but I need you to have our PI dig up some dirt on that detective and anyone else connected to this case and make sure we still have some judges on the payroll, because I'm not going to prison for this. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Miss DiLaurentis. We'll get right on it."

"I knew you would." Alison said with a confident smile. She waved to the two lawyers and then slid into the back of her limo.

As it pulled away, Alison reached into her purse and punched in Ezra's number and crossed her legs and lay down on the soft back seat of the limo.

"Hello?"

"Hi there teach. Screw anymore kids lately?"

Ezra sat up in his chair and smiled, "Alison, I was wondering when we'd get a chance to talk again. I'm guessing your back in Rosewood again, how very unexpected."

"I'm sure it is, but here I am and now it's time for us to have a nice little chat about your new job."

"I don't need a new job, I like this one just fine."

"Well, you can either go willingly or go to jail, your choice."

"So we're at the threat part already?" Ezra asked with a smile, "I thought we could work something out, but if you want to play hardball, I'm all for that. Thankfully, I know some things about you as well, things that even your four little friends don't know, so if you want to play that care you better be ready for some major repercussions."

Alison sat up in the limo, taking a few seconds to process Ezra's threats, searching her mind for what he might have on her, but when she couldn't think of anything, she did what she always did, went back on the attack, "You always were way too over confident. I never really cared for that attitude, it's no wonder I said no to you."

"Yes, you did say no and I haven't forgotten that either, but I was willing to call a truce, but if you want to turn this into a war I can do that to."

"You don't have anything on me." Alison said confidently, "You tried to have me killed, that is a crime. It doesn't matter that they failed, it's the same as if they had succeeded, so I think attempted murder trumps anything you think you have on me."

"Perhaps, but did you know your brother was gambling with your half of the inheritance and lost? He owes me close to 5 million dollars and if he doesn't pay up not only is he going to lose everything he owns, you're going to lose everything you've come to love about living the life of luxury."

"You can't hold him responsible for some private gambling debt. It's not legally binding, even I know that."

"Oh but that's where you are mistaken. He didn't gamble with me personally, but he did gamble with my casino. Well, not mine personally, a very good friend of mine's, so there is a record of it and he is on the hook for it all."

"Fine, but I don't care about my brother. Not like we ever talk or he's ever done anything for me. My half of the inheritance can't be touched to pay for his debt."

"This is where you again haven't thought things out very carefully, because who knows more about you than anyone? Yep, your brother. Now he's been very accommodating with me about giving information in exchange for lowering his debt. One of the most intriguing pieces of information he gave me was a juicy little tidbit about you and Spencer."

Alison fumed under her breath and squeezed the cell phone so hard it actually cracked. She stomped her feet on the floor and wanted to scream, but quickly pulled herself together again, "I'm not sure what he could know about Spencer. He was rarely around."

"You weren't very subtle about your little sex games were you?" Ezra said, relishing this moment more than was humanly possible, "No, you weren't and even though I'm sure it was upsetting to see his annoying little sister in such compromising positions, he's still a guy at heart and he couldn't help but video tape it all. I heard that you loved Emily? Is that true? You had sex with Spencer? Is that true? Maybe you don't mind this information coming out, but there's so much more and with video proof it's going to be hard to deny it all."

"You think you've won don't you?" Alison asked, gritting her teeth and squeezing her cell phone tightly, "You think I'll just bury my head and run away crying? You don't know me very well. All you've done is piss me off and if you knew anything about me, you'd know that the people that piss me off always regret it forever."

"Nobody has to win or lose Alison, we just need to call it a draw. We both have secrets and even if yours are common knowledge, I just don't think you want the whole world seeing all your friends online in all their naked glory. Sure it's illegal, but do you think that'll stop people from watching? It will follow you forever and your friends will blame you for letting it all out, so you think about that before you come after me."

"I want the copies of those videos. I'll keep quiet about you and your teenager girl fixation, but only if I have the videos. You are not going to hold them over my head forever."

"Once you have the copies there's no reason for you to hold up your end of the bargain. I promise I won't watch them too much. You were really one dominant little force weren't you? I thought I had moves, but you are a master manipulator and I respect that."

"Oh shut up you sicko." Alison said, hating that she was on the defensive, "For now your secret is safe, but I'm telling you right now that keeping those videos is a sign of war to me and I always win. You think about that and ask yourself if a trip to prison for molesting young girls is worth the tiny bit of power you have now."

Ezra didn't get a chance to respond as Alison had ended the call. He got up from his chair, pondering Alison's last threat and couldn't get it out of his head.

**End of Chapter 9**.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**.

** Emily's bedroom**.

Hannah knocked on the door and was welcomed inside by Emily. She closed the door as she walked into the room and slowly walked over to Emily who was curled up on her bed, "So she's really alive huh?"

"I can't believe it, but yep she is. I just don't know what to feel about it. I hate everything she did and yet as mad as I am, and I was really mad at her, I still feel things for her." Emily sat up in her bed and held her pillow on her lap, "Why does she have this affect on me? Why? Why can't I hate her? I said those words over and over in my head and I think she believed me when we talked, but I still loved seeing her again. I didn't let her know that, but my heart just about melted when I saw her smiling at me. For a moment I forgot everything she'd done and just remembered the girl who was actually nice to me."

"I wish I could tell you what to do, but I can't." Hannah slid in beside Emily and put her arm around her, "I guess you haven't had a chance to talk to Maya since you found out about Alison?"

"No and I don't know what to say to her." Emily said, "She doesn't know that I was in love with Alison. She just thinks we were friends, but this changes things now. You know how Alison is, she's going to tell Maya about us and then Maya will dump me and I'll be alone again."

"Oh she will not." Hannah said with a smile, "I don't know Maya very well, but she seems like a good person. I don't see her being upset that you loved someone else. That is over, right?"

"I want it to be, but all I've thought about since I heard her voice was Alison. Every memory of the good times we had came flooding back and you guys never saw that side of her. She was so sweet to me when we were alone. I know she loved me in her own way, but how can I get over the fact she slept with Spencer?"

Hannah barely reacted to the news of Spencer, which caused Emily to become visually upset.

"You knew about this? I can't believe that. Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Wait a second here, we just found out. I promise." Hannah said, once again trying to reassure Emily, "How did you deal with it? You never confronted Spencer about this, why?"

"I don't know. I guess I didn't blame her. I knew how Alison was, but I just didn't want everyone to know that Alison cheated on me and how little she thought of our relationship. I just wanted it to go away and it did, but now she's back."

"Okay, what do you feel right now? I'm here for you, so you can tell me anything. I swear I will not tell anyone anything you say. Not even Aria. So if you want to let something out then go for it."

"No, I don't think that's a good idea." Emily said, sliding off the bed and moving far away from Hannah, "Everything is so mixed up now. I have a new life with Maya, but I don't know what's going to happen with her and Alison is not going anywhere and she keeps saying she wants us to be together so she's not going to quit until she gets what she wants and she always does, so what if I go back with her? I'd be an idiot to do that after the things she's done to me and us and everyone."

"Maybe it was wrong to ask you to spill your guts right now. It's too soon." Hannah said with a cute smile, "I think you need to take some time and let all this sink in. Spend some time with Maya and see how things go. You will need to tell her about Alison or Alison will do it for you."

"Yes and that shows you that kind of person she is."

"Did she tell you what happened? Why she left?"

"She said she needed to get away and do some thinking. She said that she had Mona and Lucas help fake her death. I don't know the details, but then she got bored and wanted to come home, so now she is."

"Lucas was involved? Why?"

"I guess they both wanted her gone so they helped make it happen. Makes sense really, they sure had a lot to gain by her being gone. Lucas would be able to relax in school and Mona would get to become the new it girl, so I guess that explains it."

"But there was a dead body involved? How on earth could those two pull that off? Mona has a sharp tongue, but she's not really the mastermind type. Lucas, I just can't see him being able to do that either."

"What are you saying? Do you think someone else was involved?"

"I think I need to have a talk with Mona and find out what she knows." Hannah got off the bed and walked over to Emily, "Are you going to be okay? I can stay if you want."

"I'm fine, but thanks for offering. I need to tell Maya about Alison and yet there's so much I can't tell her about what we did and I hate lying to her because I came down pretty hard on Maya for a bit of a lie she told me. But, I have no choice, the truth has to come out."

"We all have secrets, so as long as you're honest with Maya I think she'll understand." Hannah gave Emily a hug and walked towards the door.

"I guess, but I wonder if I can be honest about Alison. She just has such a powerful affect on me. I'm afraid Maya will think I'm still in love with her."

Hannah turned around and looked back at Emily, "Are you in love with Alison?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, I think I am." Emily groaned, putting her pillow over her head, " God, I'm a horrible person. Who wants to be with someone like that? I know who, someone weak and pathetic like me."

"Would you stop that." Hannah ordered, "You are anything but pathetic. Love makes us do the strangest things and sometimes we love people when it doesn't make sense, but so what. All I want is for you to be happy. If it's with Maya that's great, but if it's with Alison, I'll support you a 100%. I hope you know that."

Emily finally flashed her pretty smile, "I do and thank you for being such a good friend. I think once I talk to Maya I'll know more about how I feel and I guess I'll take it from there."

"Don't hesitate to call me or Aria or even Spencer, because they want what's best for you to."

"You go talk to Mona, because I'm curious as to what she knows about all this. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Thanks for coming over."

"No problem." Hannah smiled, giving Emily one last hug before she walked out of her bedroom.

Emily smiled, picked up her cell phone and promptly called Maya.

**Spencer's Home**.

Melissa stormed into Spencer's bedroom, slammed the door behind her and marched up and stood in front of her sister, "Why did you make Jenna cry?"

Laughing at the insanity of Melissa's comment, Spencer got up from her computer chair and stared down at her sister, "Me? I made her cry? She can't cry. She's a crazy psycho who has no emotions, except maybe those of a sociopath."

"You don't have to like her, but we're kind of together now so you're going to have to deal with it."

"OMG. Are you insane?" Spencer asked, while trying to comprehend what she'd just heard, "Maybe insanity is catchy, because she's certifiable. What about Ian? Weren't you almost ready to have his baby just a few weeks ago?"

"No. I thought I should give him another chance, but there was no chemistry between us. He seemed different. He's always on edge, but the main thing is I don't feel anything for him now. But with Jenna, umm, it's so different. It's like nothing I've ever felt before and that's why I need you to be nice to her."

"You do realize she threatened me first? She came here and made all kinds of very sick threats about killing me. Yes, I said killing me. She was talking about me falling to my death from a plane. Talk about creepy."

"I don't believe that. She's never done anything to make me think she's capable of that. She's the victim here of your practical joke gone wrong. She was blind. So don't put the blame on her."

"Stop being blinded because you have a crush on her. Isn't she a bit young for you?" Spencer asked the question before thinking it through, but could tell by Melissa's reaction that she didn't like it.

"How dare you bring that up." Melissa screamed, "Jenna is 18, she's older than you the rest of you, so I'd appreciate it if you'd stop making snide remarks about her and us."

"I'm sorry." Spencer said, cringing at her chose of words, "I shouldn't have said that, but you have to take a step back and see that Jenna is no saint. I want you to be happy, in spite of all our fighting, I want that for you, but Jenna is not the answer. There's things you don't know about her that would make your skin crawl, I promise you. So please just stay away from her for your own good."

"You can't make accusations like that without backing it up."

"You don't want to hear this. You'll think I'm making it up but I'm not. If you want to know the truth why you don't ask her about Toby."

"What about him? They are step siblings. So what."

"You figure it out." Spencer said, a slight smirk appearing on her face.

Melissa paused for a few moments and then gasped at what Spencer was insinuating, "That's not true at all. She would never do that. I don't think she even likes Toby. She sure has nothing good to say about him."

"Maybe that's because he rejected her."

"You really do hate her don't you? I had no idea you were so filled with such venom for a girl who you blinded."

"Then don't ask about Toby, but do not act like she's a victim. Yes, what Alison did was wrong, but we never thought she'd be blind. It wasn't even for her. We are sorry, but that doesn't mean she gets a free pass to be a crazy bitch."

"I'm not talking about this with you anymore." Melissa snapped, turning away from Spencer.

Spencver smiled again, "Um, good because I didn't ask you to come barge into my room, so you can get out now."

"Oh I will, but mom and dad are you going to hear about your sex life with your friends now."

Spencer got up and lunged at her sister before she got to the door, pushing it closed again and pushing Melissa up against it, "Do not do that. Don't forget that you are part of it."

Melissa struggled to get free of her sister's impressive grip, but couldn't, causing her to get even more agitated, "Let go of me."

"Not until you say you won't say anything to mom or dad. That's stupid." Spencer said, "How about I tell them about your fling with Ian long before you were 18. I bet dad wouldn't be so nice to him if he knew he was screwing his daughter."

"I wonder why I ever tried to be nice to you." Melissa said, still doing her best to break free of Spencer's death grip, "Fine, I won't say anything, but leave Jenna alone. That's all I'm asking."

Spencer released her sister's hands and stepped backwards, "Okay. But only if that psycho stays away from me and my friends. You better make sure that happens."

"Stop bossing me around."

"I wasn't. I was making a suggestion, but if you're not afraid of me, then you probably should be afraid of Alison."

"What? What about her?" Melissa asked, still rubbing her wrists.

"Oh, you haven't heard? She's alive and back in Rosewood."

Melissa laughed, "Now I know who's the crazy one."

"Don't worry, it'll be all over the news by tonight." Spencer said with a confident smile, "The point is, Alison is a lot more dangerous than I could ever be and she will not allow anyone to threaten us, not even Jenna."

"If that's true, I feel sorry for you and your friends, because she is a very disturbed girl. Anyway, we don't have to fight you know? I'll keep Jenna away from here, but please don't cause any problems for her or us."

"I can live with that."

"Good. Now you can close the door on the way out."

Melissa looked down at her hands as she reached for the door, "Look what you did to my wrists? They're bruised."

"Oh they are not." Spencer said, taking a closer at them, "Well, maybe a little, but I barely touched you, you're just frail."

"You're just a bully."

"Oh right." Spencer said with an exasperated sigh, "Look, I'm sorry okay. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I hope not, but I don't like this side of you." Melissa said with a disapproving glare before walking out of Spencer's room.

**End of Chapter 10**


	11. Chapter 11

**Last Chapter**

**Chapter 11**.

** Outside Maya's home**.

Maya walked towards Emily, a big smile on her face, "I'm so glad you're here. I've taken care of that little problem and I'm officially single again."

"Good." Emily said with a weak smile, "I shouldn't have been so hard on you before. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. I understand why you wanted me to do this and you were right. I feel so much better now. I felt like I was carrying this huge secret around with me and now it's gone and now I can be with you."

Emily pulled away slightly as Maya moved in for a kiss, "Now it's my turn to tell you something and it's going to make your secret look like nothing."

"What do you mean?"

"A lot of things have happened today that have made me realize I haven't been completely honest with you either." Emily paced back and forth around Maya, searching for the right words to use, "You know that girl that was supposed to be dead, well she's not dead. She's alive and she's back in Rosewood."

"That's great. I know she was a friend of yours so you must be so happy."

"I am." Emily said, trying to look enthused, "I'm happy she's alive, but there's a lot about her that I haven't told you and some of it is a lot more important now that she's back." She stopped pacing for a moment and looked Maya right in the eyes, "Alison wasn't just my friend, we were in love. I should've told you that we talked about her, but I just wasn't ready to do it then. Alison did some things that hurt me real bad and I haven't really had a chance to deal with them because she died right after I found out about them. The thing is she wants to get back together and even though I told her no, she doesn't really take no for answer for very well and I know she's going to find you and tell you things that are going to make you see me differently, all because she wants to win."

"I'm not sure what kind of things you're talking about? You seemed really upset when you thought she was dead. I hate to ask this, but were you not upset?"

"Oh I was devastated, because that's the kind of person Alison is. She's got this overpowering personality and she has this ability to be a super bitch one minute and then an amazing friend the next. It was hard to like her, but it was just as hard to hate her. In spite of all things she did, we all kept coming back for more."

"Why would she tell me bad things about you? Wouldn't that make you mad at her?"

"Oh yes, but Alison does what she wants and then works her magic on spin control and she's just very hard to resist."

"What are you really saying here? Are you telling me that you want to be with her?"

"No, but sometimes I wonder if I'll have a choice."

"Okay that might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You talk about her like she's some god. She doesn't control you Emily, you do. Have you seen her since she's been back?"

"Yes, I saw her today. Actually, I went and picked her up." Emily said, feeling incredibly guilty already, "It's a long story, but I needed to see her to prove to myself she was really alive. What she did, leaving like that, making it seem like she was dead and all those other things she did to me, well it's hard to explain but when I saw her I hated her and yet I still had some feelings for her. I'm not getting back with her, but she still has this power over me that I can't seem to control."

A car pulled up just as Maya was about to respond and right on cue Alison got out and walked up to the two girls, "Hi there. I'm Alison. You must be rebound girl?"

Shaking her head at Alison's sarcastic entrance, Emily grabbed her by the arm and attempted to pull her away, "You shouldn't be here. Please leave."

"No, I think she should stay." Maya said calmly.

Alison smiled widely at Maya's less than warm invitation, "There you go, your new friend wants me to stay, so how about we go inside where it's nice and cozy and have a little talk?"

"That's not a good idea." Emily said, glaring at Alison. She smiled and pulled Maya off to the side, "I know you might be curious about her, but trust me when I say you don't want her in your house. At her best she is dangerous, but at her worst she can be downright evil."

"And yet you were in love with her?" Maya questioned, "I can see that she's pretty, but if she's that messed up, I'm surprised you even hang out with her."

"I'm trying not to. That's why you need to say no. I still have things I need to tell you and they are going to be hard enough, but Alison will make it a million times worse."

"I think I need to see that for myself." Maya smiled and walked up to Alison, "You're welcome to come inside with us."

"I like this girl already." Alison said with a smile, wrapping her arms around Maya's waist and following her up to her front door.

Emily closed her eyes and wished it was a all dream, but when she opened the again she saw Maya and Alison waiting for her at the door, so she had little choice but to the follow them inside.

**Hannah's bedroom**.

Hannah lay on her bed staring at her favorite picture of Aria, smiling at the thought of everything she wanted to do to her, but the phone began to ring, shaking her back to reality. She smiled even more when she saw it was Aria calling, "Hi there. I thought you were going to call me when you got home? What happened? Are you in trouble?"

"Of course I'm in trouble." Aria snapped, before taking a moment and remembering who she was talking to, "I'm sorry, but this is not good. I don't know who is doing this to us but we need to find them or all of our lives are going to be ruined forever."

"I'm sorry you had to go through at alone. I wish I could've been there for you."

"I wish you were there to, because I felt so alone. I felt like I was about 6 years old and was caught stealing candy from the table, but this is so much worse. My mom and dad must think I'm this horrible slutty girl now. Whoever did this sent them hundreds and hundreds of pictures of everything we did. I've never felt so humiliated in my whole life. I want them to pay and I mean in blood, because this is taking things too far."

"I know, because I had to sit through hours of grilling myself." Hannah said, remembering her own interrogation, "My mom has never looked at me with such disappointed eyes before. I don't know if she'll ever get over this. It really seemed to shake her up a lot. I have to believe it's only a matter of time before Spencer and Emily have to deal with this to."

"My mom doesn't want me to see any of you anymore. She thinks you guys are corrupting me, but she's so mad right now there's no talking to her. I don't think Alison did this. Someone else did, but who?"

"Jenna is the number one suspect in my mind. Her and Toby have always been a little creepy. Now that we know Alison was talking to her the whole time, it makes sense."

"Maybe, but this is a lot worse than what we did to her. It was Alison who caused her to go blind. We had no idea she would be there, but this is just evil. Who knows who she'll send these pictures to next. They could be online, they could send them to the school, everyone could see them soon. I'd never be able to show my face again if these got out."

"Let's not panic. I think whoever is doing this wants to make us afraid and well it's working, but if they wanted the world to know about this they would've by now. I think that gives us a bit more time to figure this out."

"I'm grounded so I'm not going be able to do anything until my parents calm down. Who do you think has the best chance of getting Jenna or Toby to confess?"

"Spencer's probably the scariest of the group. She's got that intense athlete's mind set, so I think she could make Jenna a little uncomfortable, but as for Toby, I'm not sure she can intimidate him. I wonder if we could get someone from the football team to do that? I hate to use Sean since I just broke up with him over the phone, but I could get one of the big lineman type guys to put a scare into Toby."

"That's kind of funny, you sound like you've put a lot of thought into this already." Aria said, smiling at Hannah being devious, "Maybe we should see what Spencer can get from Jenna first. If they aren't A, then I have no idea who could be."

"I know, it doesn't make a lot of sense." Hannah said with a disappointed sigh, but moments later her eyes lit up, "Maybe we should confront Alison. I know it's not her style, but she likes to be in control and maybe she wants to control us even when she wasn't here?"

"That's true. That would be her style." Aria nodded before remembering her current situation, "You three are going to have to do this without me, because I'm stuck in my room for now. I'll be lucky if they let me to go school now."

"I wouldn't mind that." Hannah said with a grin. "I'm sorry I can't come over there and give you a big hug and even bigger kiss."

Aria smiled widely at the thought, "I can imagine your soft lips pushing against mine without any trouble at all. It's not the same as kissing you for real, but it will help me get through these next few days."

"Well, don't get too attached to my imaginary lips, because when you are free I'm going to kiss you for a very long time so you never forget what it feels like."

"I love that idea so much. I wish you were here. I wish I was there. I really need you right now. I just want curl up in your arms and sleep until this whole mess is over."

"I hope you know I would love that to." Hannah looked at her watch and let out a sigh, "I guess I should call Emily and Spencer and figure out what we should do next. I hate to leave you like this, but I love you and we are going to get through this. I promise you that."

"I believe you. I love you to and I'll call you tomorrow. Night Hannah."

"Goodnight Aria." Hannah said softly, reluctantly ending the call. She got up and walked over to her desk when she heard her email music begin to play. She opened up her mail program, saw a mail from an unknown address, but the heading was definitely for her. The title said, "Open me Hannah. I have a surprise for you."

She saw a couple attachments in the mail, scanned them quickly for viruses and then clicked on the first one and sat back as a picture began to appear on her screen. It was huge and it took a while to load, but soon she began to figure out exactly what it was.

She put her hand over her mouth and let out an audible gasp and then quickly clicked on the second picture file. She waited patiently as the large file loaded and again she was in awe at what she was looking at. She studied the picture carefully, shaking her head in disbelief, then noticed the message at the bottom of the picture.

It read, "This is the Aria you don't know about. The one who lies to you about her little teacher infatuation. Look at the date on the paper Hannah, because Aria was kissing her teacher just last night. Sucks to be you doesn't it? Your friend, A."

Hannah closed the email program and then opened it again and pulled up the pictures and stared at them, unable to do move, barely able to breathe, but still unable to look away.

**6:25 AM, Worthington Creek Park, 10 miles SE of Rosewood**.

Two detectives got out of their vehicles, walked slowly towards another group of officers standing over a body bag. They flashed their badges and knelt down beside the corpse. The first detective pulled back the bag and looked over the corpse. He looked up at the officer standing in front of him, "Do we have a name?"

"Yes, he's a teacher in Rosewood. His name is Ezra Fitz."

"What's the preliminary cause of death?"

"It appears he was shot numerous times at point blank range. We've cordoned off the area and are scouring it for any clues."

"Why do I know that name?" The older detective asked rhetorically before a light bulb went off in his head, "Oh I remember now. A young woman filed a complaint against him for sexual harassment late last night."

"Well, we better find out who else might've wanted him dead." The younger detective said

**The End for now**.

Thank you for reading. Feedback is love.

If there is enough interest I shall continue this story, while including some of the new characters that appeared in the second of the half of season one and any that might appear in the first few episodes of the second season.

As for the story itself, well the situation with Emily's uncertain love life has turned out to be more of a distraction than anything. :) Unfortunately, I kind of knew going in that if I didn't put Emily's name as one of the main two characters, the story probably wouldn't be found by as many people and sadly that's proven to be true.

At the time I really hadn't made up my mind as to who I wanted Emily to with and even now I'm not completely decided. There's still Paige and the new girl Samara and of course the equally popular choices of Spencer, Hannah as well as Maya and Alison, so I can see I'm going to have to make a decision before I start the next story and hopefully even if it's not your favorite choice you might keep reading for the other parts of the story.


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